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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild
+Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches
+
+Author: Henri de Crignelle
+
+Translator: Captain Jesse
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2009 [EBook #28573]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Greg Bergquist and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
+preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  LE MORVAN,
+
+  [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE,]
+
+  ITS
+
+  WILD SPORTS, VINEYARDS AND FORESTS;
+
+  WITH
+
+  Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches.
+
+  BY
+
+  HENRI DE CRIGNELLE,
+
+  ANCIEN OFFICIER DE DRAGONS.
+
+  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN FRENCH,
+
+  BY
+
+  CAPTAIN JESSE,
+
+  AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"
+  "MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.
+
+  SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT-STREET.
+
+  1851.
+
+  LONDON:
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM TYLER,
+  BOLT-COURT.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Born in one of the most beautiful provinces of France, in a country of
+noble forests and extensive vineyards; brought up in the open air amidst
+the blue hills, and ever wandering over the fields and mountains with a
+gun on my arm--all the hours of my youth, if I may so say, were spent in
+search of partridges and hares in the dewy stubbles, and in the pursuit
+of the wild cat and the boar in the shady depths of the woods.
+
+When relating the adventures of these different shooting rambles to a
+friend, talking over with him our mode of sporting so different from
+that of England, and when in imagination I carried him along with me
+into the dells and dark ravines, and described to him the chase and
+death-struggle of the ferocious wolf, or the odd characters and
+antediluvian customs of the primitive people amongst whom I passed the
+days of my happy boyhood, astonished, he could hardly believe that such
+sports and such singular personages existed within so short a distance
+of his own country.
+
+"Why not scribble all this?" he would say, "your sketches would make
+capital light reading."
+
+"But to write is not easy; and, besides, what a poor figure I and my
+dogs and wolves, woodcocks and vineyards, would cut after the terrible
+Mr. Gordon Cumming. How could any description of mine interest the
+public in comparison with those of that famous shot and his three
+coffee-coloured Hottentots, with his bands of panthers and giraffes, his
+troops of yellow lions dancing sarabands round the fountains, and his
+jungles and swamps swarming with elephants and hippopotami?"
+
+"But we might be able to go to Le Morvan," said my friend, "whereas few
+indeed, if they wished it, can go to the South of Africa to shoot
+elephants through the small ribs; neither is it probable that many of us
+would like to pass several years of their valuable lives shut up in a
+loose, rolling, sea-bathing-machine-like wagon, with their own beloved
+shadow alone for all Christian company. Let us have a narrative of your
+exploits?"
+
+"You do not consider what you ask," I replied; "my gossip may have
+amused you, but the effusions of my pen would to a certainty make you
+yawn like graves."
+
+"Nonsense," whispered the flatterer, "you will open to us a new country,
+you will confer a real service upon hundreds of restless Englishmen, who
+when summer comes know not for the life of them where to go, or where
+not to go;--write your work, and advise them to turn their steps to Le
+Morvan at the time of the vintage."
+
+But now another, a huge difficulty, sprung up. Printers do not lend
+their types for nothing any more than they give gratis their time and
+paper. To publish a book is always an expensive affair; misfortune,
+which had touched me with its wing, which has been the sad guest of my
+house, deprived me of the power of undertaking it myself: and where to
+find a person so generous as to take upon himself the responsibility of
+the undertaking? Happily I was in England, in the land of kind hearts
+and warm sympathies. A noble lady, the mother of a distinguished English
+nobleman, who passes her life in doing good, took an interest in my
+forlorn history, and was pleased to honour me with her patronage. With
+this mantle of protection thrown around me, and my generous friend
+having undertaken to bear the responsibilities of publishing, the
+difficulties were soon swept away, and Le Morvan was written.
+
+I had hoped that I should in this Preface be permitted to mention her
+name, which would have been less a compliment to her than an honour to
+me; but her modesty has refused this public acknowledgment of my
+unbounded gratitude,--a veil of respectful reserve shall therefore
+remain suspended over her name. As for me and mine, we shall treasure it
+in our thankful hearts--every day shall we pray that the Great Giver of
+all good may confer upon her His most precious and gracious blessings.
+
+  HENRI DE CRIGNELLE.
+
+LONDON, _August_, 1851.
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+English propensity to ramble--Where and how--Le
+Morvan--Vezelay--Description of the town--Historical associations
+connected with it--Charles IX.--Persecutions of the Protestants--View
+from Vezelay--Scenery and wild sports--The Author--Object of the
+Work      _p._ 1
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Le Morvan--Forests--Climate--Patriarchs and Damosels--Peasants of the
+plain and the mountains--Jovial Curés--Their love of Burgundy--The
+Doctor and the Curé      14
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Geology--Fossil shells--Antediluvian salmon--The Druids--Chindonax, the
+High Priest--Roman antiquities--Julius Cæsar's hunting-box--Lugubrious
+village--Carré-les-Tombes--The Inquisitive Andalusian      26
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Le Morvan during the Middle Ages--Legendary horrors--Forest of La
+Goulotte--La Croix Chavannes--La Croix Mordienne--Hôtel de
+Chanty--Château de Lomervo--A French Bluebeard--Citadel of Lingou      35
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Castle of Bazoche--Maréchal de Vauban--Relics of the old
+Marshal--Memorials of Philipsburg--Hôtel de Bazarne--Madame de
+Pompadour's maître d'hôtel--Proof of the _curés'_ grief--Farm of St.
+Hibaut--Youthful recollections--Monsieur de Cheribalde--Navarre the
+Four-Pounder--His culverin      43
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Bird's-eye view of the forests--The student's visit to his uncle in the
+country--Sallies forth in the early morning--Meets a cuckoo--Follows
+him--The cuckoo too much for him--Gives up the pursuit--Finds he has
+lost his way--Agreeable vespers--Night in the forest--Wolves--Up a beech
+tree--A friend in need--The student bids adieu to Le Morvan      55
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Charms of a forest life to the sportsman--The Poachers--Le Père
+Séguin--His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers--The first buck--A
+bad shot      65
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Le Père Séguin's collation--The young sportsman and the hare--The
+quarrel--The apology--The reconciliation--The cemetery--Bait for
+barbel--Le Père Séguin's deceased friends--The return home      75
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Passage of the woodcock in November--Laziness of that bird--Night
+travelling--Mode of snaring them at night--Numbers taken in this
+way--This sport adapted rather for the poacher--The _braconnier_ of Le
+Morvan--His mode of life--The poacher's dog--The double poacher      88
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+The woodcock--Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan--Aversion of dogs
+to this bird--Timidity of the woodcock--Its cunning--Shooting in
+November--The Woodcock mates--The Woodcock fly      100
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Fine names--Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages--Gustavus Adolphus no
+hero!--The Parisian Sportsman--Partridge shooting despicable--Wild
+boar-hunting--Rousing the grisly monster--His approach--The post of
+honour--Good nerves--The death--The trophy and congratulations      117
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The _Mares_--Manner in which they are formed in the depths of the
+forest--_Mare_ No. 1.--Description of it--The appearance of the
+spot--Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge--Approach of the
+birds--Animals that frequent the _Mares_ in the evening      141
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Appearance of the _Mare_ in the morning--Forest etiquette--Mode of
+obtaining possession of the best _Mare_--Every subterfuge fair--The
+jocose sportsman--The quarrel--Reveries in the hut--Comparison between
+meeting a lady and watching for a wolf      157
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_Mare_ No. 2.--Description of it--Not sought after by the sportsman--The
+sick banker--The doctor's prescription--The patient's disgust at it--Is
+at length obliged to yield--Leaves Paris for Le Morvan--Consequences to
+the inmates of the château--The banker convalescent      170
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Summer months in the Forest--_Mare_ No. 3.--Description of it--The
+Woodcock fly--The Banker has a day's sport--Arrives at the
+_Mare_--Difficult to please in his choice of a hut--Proceeds to a larger
+_Mare_--His friends retire--The Banker on the alert for a Wolf or a
+Boar--Fires at some animal--The unfortunate discovery--Rage of the
+Parisian--Pays for his blunder, and recovers his temper      188
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The _Curé_ of the Mountain--Toby Gold Button--Hospitality--The _Curé's_
+pig--His hard fate and reflections--The _Curé_ of the plain--His worth
+and influence--The agent of the Government--Landed Proprietors--Their
+influence--The Orator--Dialogue with a Peasant      207
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The wolf--His aspect and extreme ferocity--His cunning in hunting his
+prey--His unsocial nature--Antiquity of the race--Where found, and their
+varieties--Annihilated in England by the perseverance of the kings and
+people--Decrees and rewards to encourage their destruction by
+Athelstane, John, and Edward I.--Death of the last wolf in
+England--Death of the last in Ireland      221
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The _battues_ of May and December--The gathering of
+sportsmen--Preparations in the forest--The _charivari_--The fatal
+rush--Excitement of the moment--The volley--The day's triumph, and the
+reward--The peasants returning--Hunting the wolf with
+dogs--Cub-hunting--The drunken wolf      236
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement--The _Traquenard_--Mode of setting
+this trap--A night in the forest with Navarre--The young lover--Dreadful
+accident that befell him--His courage and efforts to escape--The fatal
+catastrophe--The poor mad mother      248
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Shooting wolves in the summer--The most approved baits to attract
+them--Fatal error--Hut-shooting--Silent joviality--The approach of the
+wolves--The first volley--The retreat--The final slaughter--The
+sportsman's reward--The farm-yard near St. Hibaut--The dead colt--The
+onset--Scene in the morning--Horrible accident--The gallant
+farmer--Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant--The wolf-skin
+drum--Anathema of the naturalists      261
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalist--The _Gour_ of Akin--The English
+lady--The mountain streams--Château de Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of
+killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens
+of the grotto--Château des Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and
+lakes of Lomervo--Mode of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch
+farmer      280
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Village _fêtes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The _Fête
+Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in them--Procession
+from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at them--Pictures of the
+Roman Catholic Church--Before the _Vendange_--Proprietor's hopes and
+fears--Shooting in the vineyards--The first day of the
+_Vendange_--Appearance of the country--Influx of visitors at this
+season--The consequences--Herminie--Her sad history--Le
+Morvan--Recommended to the English traveller--Lord Brougham and
+Cannes--Contrast between it and Le Morvan      297
+
+
+
+
+
+LE MORVAN.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+     English propensity to ramble--Where and how--Le
+     Morvan--Vezelay--Description of the town--Historical associations
+     connected with it--Charles IX.--Persecutions of the
+     Protestants--View from Vezelay--Scenery and wild sports--The
+     Author--Object of the Work.
+
+
+Every nation has its characteristics, and amongst those which are
+peculiar to the genius of the English people, is their ardent and
+insatiable love of wandering.
+
+To locomote is absolutely necessary to every Englishman; in his heart is
+profoundly rooted a passion for long journeys; each and all of them, old
+and young, healthy and sickly, would if they could take not merely the
+grand tour, but circulate round the two hemispheres with all the
+pleasure imaginable. At a certain period of the year, when the
+weathercock points the right way, the sun burns in the sign of the
+Lion, and the husbandman bends his weary form to gather in the golden
+corn, the legs of the rich Englishman begin to be nervously agitated, he
+feels a sense of suffocation, and pants for change--of air, of place, of
+everything; he girds up his loins, and without throwing a glance behind
+him, it is Hey, Presto! begone! and he is off. Where?
+
+It is autumn, blessed autumn, the season of harvest and sunny days; the
+English are everywhere--they fly from their own dear island like clouds
+of chilly swallows, light upon Europe as thick as thrushes in an
+orchard, and are soon mingled with every nation of the earth, like the
+blue corn flowers in the ripe barley fields. Yes, from north to south,
+from east to west, go where you will, you cannot proceed ten miles
+without meeting a smiling rosy English girl coquettishly concealed under
+her large green veil, and a grave British gentleman, whistling to the
+wide world in the sheer enjoyment of having nothing to do but to look at
+it.
+
+I have seen green veils climbing the Pyramids; I have seen green veils
+diving down into the dark mines of the Oural; I have seen an English
+gentleman perched like a chamois on the top of St. Bernard, hat in hand,
+roaring "God save the Queen." I have seen some sipping Syracusan wine,
+puffing a comfortable cloud from obese cigars, most irreverently seated
+in the big nose of St. Carlo Borromeo. One-half of England is gone to
+China, the other half to Africa; these will speak to you of Kamschatka,
+those of the mountains of the Moon, just as a London cockney or a
+Parisian _badaud_ would speak to you of Greenwich or of Bagnolet. Some
+have boxed with the bears of the Pyrenees; others have killed lions and
+tigers by dozens; one has crossed the Nile on a crocodile, another vows
+he waltzed with a dying hippopotamus, and several have bagged
+camelopards and elephants by scores. In short, they have trodden with a
+bold disdainful step all the high-roads and by-roads of our wondrous
+planet, displaying, in every quarter of the compass, the daring and
+devil-may-care spirit of their youth and the spleen of their mature age,
+as well as the yellow guineas from their long and well-filled purses.
+
+Well, then, ask of all this wandering tribe, who boast of having been
+everywhere, and seen everything; ask those travelling birds who have
+flown through France and Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Palestine;
+who have sledged in Russia and fished in Norway; who have lost
+themselves in the prairies of the far West, or in the Pampas, the
+gorges of the Andes, or the Alleghanies; who have bronzed their
+epidermis in the fierce heat of the tropics, or moistened their fair
+_chevelure_ in the diamond spray of Niagara; who have, in fine,
+journeyed through calm and hurricane, snow-storms, sirocco, and simoom;
+who have rubbed noses--male noses--of the tattooed savage; mounted
+donkeys, ostriches, camelopards, lamas, and dromedaries; mules, wild
+asses, negroes, and elephants; ask them all if once in their lives--one
+single once--they have seen or even heard of LE MORVAN?
+
+Not one of these thousands will answer yes. Le Morvan, where is it? what
+is Le Morvan? Is it a mountain, a church, a river, a star, a flower, a
+bird? Le Morvan, who knows anything about Le Morvan? Echo answers, "Who
+knows?" Paddy Blake's replies, "Nobody." And yet all of you roving
+English, who delight in athletic sports and rural scenes--the forest
+glade and murmuring streams, a view halloo and the gallant hound; who
+love the bleak and healthy moors, the cool retreats, the flowery paths,
+and mountain solitudes, how happy would you be in Le Morvan. Where,
+then, is Le Morvan?
+
+Le Morvan is a district of France, in which are included portions of the
+departments of the Nièvre and the Yonne, having on the west the
+vineyards of Burgundy, and on the east the mountains of the Nivernois.
+Its ancient and picturesque capital, Vezelay, crowns a hill 2,000 feet
+in height, and commands a panoramic view of the country for thirty miles
+round. It has all the characteristics of a town of the feudal times,
+with high embattled and loopholed walls, numerous towers, and deep and
+strong gateways, under which are still to be seen the grooves of the
+portcullis, the warder's guard-room, and the hooks that supported the
+heavy drawbridge.
+
+The capital of Le Morvan partially owed its rise to a celebrated
+nunnery, founded by Gerard de Roussillon, a great hero of romance and
+chivalry, who lived, loved, and fought under Pepin, the father of the
+grand Charlemagne. This nunnery, which was sacked and burnt to the
+ground by the Saracens, those terrible warriors of the East, was
+restored in the ninth century, and fortified; and as the sainted inmates
+were believed to have amongst their relics a tress of the golden hair of
+the beautiful and repentant Magdalen, troops of the faithful--and people
+were ready to believe a great deal in those days--flocked to Vezelay,
+when it soon became a large and flourishing town.
+
+In the tenth century, when the people, in their endeavour to shake off
+a few links of their fetters, refused to bend their bodies in the dust
+before their lords and their minds before their priests--when the seeds
+of liberty, till then lying in unprofitable ground, though watered for
+centuries by the tears of tyranny and oppression, first germinated and
+rose above the earth, who gave the signal of resistance in France?--the
+inhabitants of Vezelay. Yes; it is to her citizens that the honour
+belongs of having first refused to submit to the power, the domineering
+power, of political and ecclesiastical rule; it was her brave
+inhabitants who, assembling in secret, thought not of the peril, but,
+having promised help and protection one to the other, flew to arms. A
+short and desperate struggle ensued, but the victory remained in the
+hands of the abbot of Vezelay. Hundreds of brave men were put, without
+mercy, to the sword, and many, with less mercy, burnt alive or died by
+the torture in the dark dungeons of the abbatical palace. Vezelay still
+preserves in its archives the names of twelve of these martyrs.
+
+Again in the twelfth century, when the cry to the rescue of the Holy
+Sepulchre shook all Europe, and every nation poured forth her tens of
+thousands to drive the infidel from that land in which their Redeemer
+had lived and died an ignominious and cruel death, it was at Vezelay
+that Pope Eugenius III. assembled a great council of the princes of the
+church, the great barons, and chivalry of those times. It was in her
+immense cathedral, one of the oldest and largest in the kingdom, amidst
+the clang of arms, war cries, and religious chaunts, and in the presence
+of Louis le Jeune, King of France, that St. Bernard preached, in 1146,
+the Second Crusade.
+
+Vezelay is celebrated as having been the birth-place of Beza, the great
+Protestant Reformer (1519), who succeeded not only to the place but to
+the influence of Calvin, and was, after that eminent man's death,
+regarded as the head and leader of the Genevese church.
+
+It was to Vezelay, the only town that dared to offer them the protection
+of its walls, that the unfortunate Protestants fled after the horrible
+massacre of St. Bartholomew's--the base political cruelty of the brutal
+homicide, Charles IX. Tracked and hunted down like wild beasts, and a
+price set upon their heads, they found staunch and noble hearts in the
+inhabitants of Vezelay; but, ere long, an army of their insatiable foes
+arrived and besieged the town, and treachery at a postern one stormy
+night made them masters of it, when scenes of horror followed under the
+mask of religion that even at this distance of time make one recoil with
+terror and disgust at the dogmas of the corrupt faith which dictated
+them.
+
+Roasting men alive, and boiling women, dashing out the brains of many a
+cherub boy and prattling girl, was the pleasing and satisfactory pastime
+with which Pope Gregory, Catherine de Medicis, and her congenial son
+gladdened their Christian hearts. The blood of their victims still cries
+to us from the ground of their Golgotha; for on the south side of the
+town there is a large green field, called _Le Champ des Huguenots_. The
+damning fact, from which this spot received its name, has been handed
+down to us by the historian. It is as follows:
+
+The Catholics, having instituted a strict search in the woods and
+caverns of the environs, made so many prisoners that they were puzzled
+what to do with them--nay, in what manner they should take their lives.
+Among many ingenious experiments, it was suggested that they should bury
+them alive up to their necks in the field to which we have alluded; and
+this was accordingly done with nine of them, whose heads were bowled at
+with cannon-balls taken from the adjoining rampart, as if they had been
+blocks of wood instead of live human heads. The shrieks of the
+miserable beings excited no compassion; on the contrary, it afforded
+amusement to their executioners: so that games of skittles upon the same
+principle were played the whole length of this meadow.
+
+Turning aside from these execrable deeds of man to the works of Nature
+and of Nature's God, which have always been and always must be lovely
+and worthy of our deepest admiration, let us dwell for a moment upon the
+splendid view from the castle-terrace, which forms the principal
+promenade of Vezelay. Shaded by large and venerable trees, through the
+lofty branches of which many a storm has howled for nearly four hundred
+years, the sight from hence is one of the finest panoramic views in
+France.
+
+All around, whether on the slope of the hills by the river-side, in the
+middle distance, or near the mountains which form the horizon, are seen
+hundreds of little villages, and many a white villa scattered among the
+green vines as daisies on the turf. To the left and right are St. Père
+and Akin, two hamlets, which seem like faithful dogs sleeping at the
+foot of the mountain crowned by Vezelay. The province in which this
+cloud-capped fortress-town is situated is a retired spot out of the
+beaten track of the tourist, the man of business, or the man of
+pleasure--lost, as it were, in the very heart of beautiful France, like
+a wild strawberry in the depth of the forest--encircled by woods, and
+unknown to the foreigner, who, in his rapid journey to Geneva or to
+Lyons, almost elbows it without dreaming of its existence.
+
+Le Morvan rears in its sylvan depths a population of hardy and honest
+men and lovely women, fresh as roses, and gay as butterflies. There the
+soft evening breezes are charged with the songs of ten thousand birds,
+the odours of the eglantine, the lily of the valley, and the violet,
+which, shaking off its winter slumbers, opens its dark blue eye and
+combines its perfume with that of its snowy companion.
+
+Le Morvan is a country that would delight an Englishman, for it is full
+of game; here the sportsman may vary his pleasures as fancy dictates.
+The forest abounds with deer; the plain with rabbits and the timid hare;
+and in the vineyards, during the merry season of the vintage, the fat
+red-stockinged and gray-clad partridges are bagged by bushels. Here the
+sportsman may watch in the open glades the treacherous wild cat and the
+bounding roebuck; and, should these sports appear too tame, he may, if
+foot and heart are sound, plunge into the dark recesses of the forest
+in pursuit of the savage and grisly boar, or the fierce and prowling
+wolf.
+
+When evening comes, bringing with it peace and rest to the industrious
+peasant, when the moon shall light her bright lamp in the star-spangled
+heavens, and shed her silvery rays across the plain, the hunter may lead
+forth the village belle, and foot it merrily on the mossy greensward, to
+the sound of the bagpipe and the rustic flute, by fountains which never
+cease their monotonous but soothing plaint, and under the long shadows
+of the ancient oaks and tall acacias.
+
+Happiness, says Solomon, consists not in the possession of that gold for
+which men toil so unremittingly and grave deep wrinkles on the heart and
+brow. Happiness lights not her torch at the crystal lustres in the halls
+of royalty; she rarely chooses for her home the marble palaces of the
+wealthy, nor is she often the companion of the great, robed in costly
+apparel; rarely does she braid her hair with pearls, or wear the rosy
+lightning of the ruby on her fair bosom.
+
+Happiness is known only to him who, free and contented, lives unknown in
+his little corner, deaf to the turmoil and insensible to the excitements
+of the selfish crowd, and ignorant of the sorrows and sufferings of
+great cities. She is found in the enjoyment of the sunshine and the open
+air, in the shady groves and flowery fields, by the side of the
+murmuring brooks, and in the society of the gay, frank, and
+simple-minded peasant of my own dear country. Oh! my white and pretty
+_pavillon_, whose walls are clad with fragrant creepers and the luscious
+vine, whose porch is scented with the woodbine and the rose--oh! lovely
+valleys, dark forests, deep blue lakes which sleep unruffled in the
+bosom of the hills, beautiful vine-clad hills, where in the morning of
+my youth I chased those flying flowers, the bright and painted
+butterflies--oh! when, when shall I see you all again--like the bird of
+passage, which, when the winter is over, returns to his sunny home? When
+shall I see thee again? Oh! my sweet Le Morvan! Oh! my native land!
+Happy, thrice happy they who cherish in their hearts the love of nature,
+who prefer her sublime and incomparable beauties to the false and
+artificial works of man, accumulated with so much cost and care within
+the walls of her great cities. Happy, too, are those who have not been
+carried away by the fatal flood of misfortune from the paternal hearth,
+who have always lived in sight of that home which sheltered their merry
+childhood, and whose lives, pure and peaceful as the noiseless stream of
+the valley, close in calmness and serenity like the twilight of a bright
+summer's day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+     Le Morvan--Forests--Climate--Patriarchs and Damosels--Peasants of
+     the plain and the mountaineer--Jovial Curés--Their love of
+     Burgundy--The Doctor and the Curé.
+
+
+Le Morvan, anciently Morvennium, or Pagus Morvinus, as Cæsar calls it in
+his Commentaries, comprises, as we have before remarked, a portion of
+the departments of the Nièvre and the Yonne, lying between vine-clad
+Burgundy and the mountains of the Nivernois. Its productions are
+various; in the plains are grown wheat, rye, hemp, oats, and flax: on
+the mountain side the grape is largely cultivated; and in the valleys
+are rich verdant meadows, where countless droves of oxen, knee-deep in
+the luxuriant grass, feed and fatten in peace and abundance.
+
+But the real and inexhaustible wealth of Le Morvan is in its forests. In
+these several thousand trees are felled annually, sawn into logs,
+branded and thrown by cart-loads into the neighbouring torrent, which,
+on reaching a more tranquil stream, are lashed into rafts, when they
+drift onwards to the Seine, and are eventually borne on the waters of
+that river to the capital. The forests of the Nièvre are some of the
+most extensive in France; thick and dark, and formed of ancient oaks,
+maple, and spreading beech, they cover nearly 200,000 acres of ground.
+Those of the Yonne are larger but of a character far less wild.
+
+The climate of this part of France is delightful; with the exception of
+occasional showers, very little rain falls; the sky is serene, and
+scarcely ever is a vagabond cloud seen in the ethereal blue to throw a
+shadow upon the lovely landscape beneath. For six months of the year the
+sun is daily refulgent in the heavens, and sets evening after evening in
+all his glorious majesty. But in the woods it is not thus; the storms
+there are sometimes terrible, and, like those of the tropics, arise and
+terminate with wonderful rapidity. These tempests, which purify the
+atmosphere, leave behind them a delicious coolness, the trees and
+shrubs, as they shake from their trembling leaves their sparkling tears,
+appear so bright--the flowers which raise again their drooping heads,
+load the air with such delightful odours--the whole forest, in short,
+seems so refreshed and full of life, that every one hails their
+approach, the toil-worn peasant breathes without complaint the sultry
+air, and observes with pleasure the dark and lowering clouds gathering
+in the far horizon.
+
+From the mountains, those huge ladders of granite that God has planted
+upon the earth, as if to invite ungrateful man to come nearer to him,
+descend many a stream and dancing rill of pure and crystal waters. No
+part of France can be said to be more salubrious. "Centenarians" are by
+no means uncommon, and a patriarch of that age may be found in several
+families.
+
+When Sunday comes, always a _jour de fête_ as well as a day of prayer,
+it is very pleasing to see one of these venerable men, dressed in his
+best clothes, walking to church at the head of his children,
+grand-children, and great grand-children. Long and of snowy whiteness is
+his hair, and glossy white as threads of purest silver is his beard--his
+hat, of quaker broadness in the brim, is generally encircled, in the
+early days of Spring, with a wreath of the common primrose, and his dark
+cloth mantle, of home-spun fabric, hangs gracefully on his shoulders,
+showing underneath it the dark red sash that girds his still healthy and
+vigorous frame. Tall and grave, erect and majestic as the oaks of their
+native forests, these patriarchs bespeak every one's respect, and when
+looking on them you might imagine they were men of another age, a
+generation of by-gone years, you might fancy them some ancient Druids
+that have escaped from their dusty tombs, from centuries of night, to
+tread once more the pathways of this planet.
+
+And the women, heaven and earth! how sweetly pretty, how amiable and
+adorable; and such eyes, dark and lustrous!--full of witchcraft, burning
+and humid as an April sun after a shower. Some there are, also, of
+pensive blue, pregnant with promises, soft and almond-shaped, like the
+divine eyes of the Italian Cenci. Supple as the young and slender
+branches of willow, are these divinities, fresh as new opened tulips,
+and brisk and gay as the golden-speckled trout in the sparkling current.
+In their charms is found a terrestrial paradise, a compound of delicious
+qualities which intoxicate the senses, hook the heart, and like the bite
+of the Sicilian tarantella, steep the loved one in delirium.
+
+Yes, the women of Le Morvan are lovely, ardent, and tender-hearted as
+the dove, especially those who dwell within the forest districts; for
+nothing contributes so much to bring forth the loving principle of the
+affections as the silent melancholy of the umbrageous woods, and the
+soft and perfumed breezes that pervade them. Here, in the dusk and
+stillness of the summer evenings, these wood-nymphs hear in the lofty
+branches of the linden, the endearing love songs of the feathered tribe,
+and when night throws its charitable gloom over their blushing cheeks,
+they whisper at the trysting place what they have heard and seen to
+their rustic admirers.
+
+We have just briefly sketched the two extremes, the old men of Le Morvan
+and its sprightly damosels: we must now mention the inhabitants
+generally, and these vary like its productions according to locality.
+The peasant of the plains is civil, gentle, and industrious, but cunning
+and dangerous as an old fox; and if he thinks money may be squeezed from
+your pocket, be sure there will be no sleep for him till he has taken
+some out of it. Full of fun, he loves above all the dance, the song, the
+merry laugh, and good cheer--and the uncorking of a bottle would be for
+him a supreme delight, if this excellence itself was not superseded, by
+the far greater blessedness of emptying it.
+
+The inhabitant of the mountain, on the other hand, is sober, severe and
+roughly barked--clothed with silence and gravity, smiling but once a
+year--the day he has cheated a good man of the plain; he does not please
+so much at first sight: but if in any danger, if you are surprised by a
+hurricane, surrounded with wolves; or you have lost your way, in a night
+as dark as the grave itself, you call and ask his help, oh! it is then
+that his sterling qualities shine forth in all their splendour. Always
+ready, always on the look out, the ear for ever bent to catch the
+well-known sounds of the forest, the slightest indication of distress
+awakes his vigilance; it is then he comes, it is then he flies, and his
+arm, gun, and eyes--his cabin, dog, and lean horse are all at your
+command.
+
+Admirable example of courage and of devotedness: money for him is
+nothing; happy to be useful, he obliges for the mere pleasure of
+obliging. Many, many times have I seen poachers, cottagers,
+charcoal-burners, and wood-cutters, poor as Job, hardly breeched, hungry
+as a whole Irish borough, leave their work, their sport, their field,
+their tree half down,--abandon in the roads, under the guard of the
+dogs, their carts and oxen, and go some dozen of miles, through storm
+and tempest, through rush, rock, and swamp, to set a sportsman in his
+right way again. Without saying a word, with steps attendant on his
+weary progress, they trudge on before, making a sign for him to follow;
+and when they have placed him once more on his road, a nod, a shake of
+the hand, a smile, a kind word falling from his lips, pays them the full
+price of all their troubles. Never have I seen one of them accept the
+least pecuniary reward for such services--they do nothing but their
+duty, they say; and as they are happy in the firm conviction that the
+whole forest belongs to them, they think they are only doing the honours
+of their green drawing-rooms. Thus it always happens, that when, by
+their good care, you have escaped certain danger, it is with great
+difficulty, and only after a deluge of rhetoric, that they consent to
+accept for their daughters or wives a red wool dress, a gold cross, or a
+row of large blue Pundaram beads; or for themselves a few dozen of iron
+bullets, a bag of shot, or a flask of powder. This abnegation, this
+frankness of the heart, this kind sympathy for every stranger, is
+universal among the mountaineers; these benevolent and kindly feelings
+are a portion of their holy traditions, and as such are most religiously
+grafted by every mother into the soft wax-like hearts of her dear little
+ones.
+
+But while delighting to describe the virtues of these denizens of the
+forests, these amiable fauns and jolly satyrs, I must not forget those
+jovial trencher-men, the _curés_ of Le Morvan. Every sportsman
+possesses, or should possess, the digestion of an ostrich; for his
+appetite is generally prodigious, and the viands that fall in his way
+are not always the most savoury. When, however, the venison pasty, the
+truffled turkey, or the _pain de gibier_ is within his reach, no one is
+so capable of enjoying and doing justice to these delicacies of the
+table, of knocking off so dexterously the neck of the champagne bottle
+when the corkscrew is absent, or whose legs are stretched out so
+gracefully at the sight of brimming glasses and _recherché_ viands.
+
+In these, his fallen moments, and after a good day's sport, a Morvinian
+would tell you he could drink all the Burgundian cellars dry,--aye, and
+those of Champagne too; and as to smoking, why, he would smoke a whole
+crop of tobacco.
+
+To all keen sportsmen, therefore, who love good eating and wine, and
+intend to pay a visit to Le Morvan, I would give this piece of advice,
+and I would say to them, place it in the secret drawer of your memory;
+nay, carry it written, and, if necessary, painted on your knapsack or
+scratched upon your gun--fail not to make the acquaintance of the _curé_
+the darling _curés_. Ask who are they that love the best _cuisine_--who
+dote upon the most delicious morsels--who will have the oldest, purest,
+and most generous wines?--you will be answered, the _curés_. For whom
+are destined the largest trout, the fattest capons, and the best parts
+of the venison?--for whom the softest and most choice liqueurs, wine of
+the best _bouquet_, the largest truffles, the most luscious honey, the
+best vegetables, and finest fruits?--for the _curés_. And the most
+clever men-cooks, the happiest receipts, and latest culinary
+inventions--for whom are they? the answer is always, _for messieurs les
+curés_. Forget them not, therefore, for they are really worth
+remembering; besides, they have excellent hearts and are capital
+fellows, boon companions, full of _bonhommie_ and good-nature: in fact,
+such _curés_ it is impossible to find anywhere else.
+
+But the great Architect of the universe has said, nothing is
+perfect--everything human has its weak point. Well, it cannot be helped,
+and it must be told, the _curés_ of Le Morvan have their weak points;
+trifles, to be sure--mere bagatelles--but still they have them. They are
+rather _too_ fond of old wine and good cheer. These two charming little
+defects excepted,--you have in the Morvinian _curé_ goodness double
+distilled, and the essence of generosity, and, be it said, abnegation.
+This love of the bottle they imbibe from their dear colleagues of
+Burgundy; for it is well known, and has never been disputed, that the
+Burgundian _curés_ are the greatest exterminators, uncorkers, and
+emptiers of wine-bottles in all Christendom. The first thing these
+jovial clergymen think of when they open their eyes in the morning, is
+an invocation to Bacchus, somewhat in the following strain: "O Bacchus!
+son of Semele, divine wine-presser! O vineyards! full of the purple
+grape! O wine-press! inestimable machine!" &c. Their second movement is
+to extend the right arm, and clasp within their digits a flask of old
+Pouilli, the contents of which they swallow without once stopping to
+take breath. "An infallible remedy," say they, "against the devil and
+all future indigestions."
+
+Fortified thus with this their first orison, they throw on their
+cassock, and descend to the cellar, to count the bottles, or tap and
+taste the barrels of some doubtful vintage. The thorough-bred Burgundian
+_curé_, particularly one who has lived and got old and fat in the
+solitude of a retired presbytery,--whose rubicund nose reveals his
+admiration for the vineyards of his native province, and whose three
+chins tell you that with pullets, and venison, and clouted cream he has
+lined his scrip,--is certainly one of the most jovial and best of men.
+
+Ask him for indulgences, absolution, masses and prayers for the living
+and the dead; he will grant them all. Ask him for his niece in marriage;
+ask him to marry you, to baptize you, to bury you; he will do it
+all--yes, all for nothing! It is not in his nature to refuse anything.
+Ask him for his new cassock, his cane, or his hat, his black silk
+stockings, or his silver buckles, and they are yours. No one so ready to
+forgive an insult or forget an injury as he. But, by the blood of the
+Mirabels, give him not a bottle of bad or sour wine, for he will neither
+forget nor forgive it; and above all things, never give him a hint that
+it would be well if he gave up his favourite fluid, for be assured, you
+would forfeit his friendship for ever. Sooner would he consent to lose a
+leg or all his teeth, than give up his life-loved Burgundy! Tell him he
+will have an attack of apoplexy; tell him that he will be taken off
+suddenly by inflammation, and that water therefore should be his
+beverage; he will reply with a smack of his lips, and a castanet noise
+with his fingers. "Nonsense, my boy--stuff and rubbish! Pass the wine,
+my son; pass it again. Pass the ham, gentlemen. Fill a bumper. Hurrah
+for old Burgundy! hurrah for her wines! Confound the pale fluid, and a
+fig for the gout!" Such are the ebullitions of his heart in his jovial
+moments; and the following lines, which would spoil in the translation,
+give a lively picture of them:
+
+  "Pour trop bien boire un curé de Bourgogne
+  De son pauvre oeil se trouvait déferré,
+  Un docteur vint:--Voici de la besogne
+  Dit-il, pour plus d'un jour;--Je patienterai!
+  Ça vous boirez:--Eh bien! soit, je boirai!
+  Quatre grands mois:--Plutôt douze, mon maître.
+  Cette tisane!--A moi? hurla le prêtre,
+  _Vade retro!_ Guérir par le poison!
+  Non, par ma soif! perdons une fénètre,
+  Puisqu'il le faut, mais--_Sauvons la Maison_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     Geology--Fossil shells--Antediluvian salmon--The Druids--Chindonax,
+     the High Priest--Roman antiquities--Julius Cæsar's
+     hunting-box--Lugubrious village--Carré-les-Tombes--The Inquisitive
+     Andalusian.
+
+
+Le Morvan, independently of its hunting and fishing, its lovely climate
+and fine wines, pretty girls and jolly _curés_, possesses a more
+important class of beauties and perfections, secrets and enigmas, over
+which the _savans_ would pore and ponder through many a day and many a
+night: those men who, like Eve, long to grasp the fatal apple--the apple
+which destroys while it attracts--the apple whose flavour, alas! is so
+bitter,--the apple of science. Let the geologists, who are ever bending
+in earnest study over the mysteries of nature, and breaking stones by
+the road-side,--who are ever seeking to analyse the _matériel_ of
+creation,--who are always contemplating the internal and geognostic
+constitution of the globe, the red or the blue clay, the yellow gravel,
+the trappe, the limestone, the granite, or the slate, to satisfy
+themselves what this poor planet is made of,--let them come and ransack
+Le Morvan. Let them bring their hammers and chisels, their compasses and
+barometers, and above all, their passport,--precious document! an
+hundredfold more useful in France, in these liberty days, than a pair of
+shoes or a shirt,--let them come, and I promise them endless
+discoveries, a rich and ample harvest.
+
+In the meadow lands, when, for the purpose of sinking wells, the soil is
+penetrated to an immense depth, the workmen often come to thick strata
+of schist, in which they find imbedded trunks and roots of trees, and
+stalks of plants and ferns, which now grow in tropical climates only.
+
+In the highest and steepest parts of the mountain chain may be found
+marine petrifactions of every variety--the sea-hedgehog, the oyster, the
+mussel, and the star-fish; and in the beds of trachytic rock, deposited
+in such order that one might fancy they had been placed there by a
+careful and tasty housewife, are layers of the most curious shells,
+univalve, bivalve, sublivalve and multivalve, madrepors, and shapeless
+remnants of creatures now no longer known, and petrified fish.
+
+Some few years ago, an engineer, who was carrying a road through a rock
+in the mountain called the Val d'Arcy, found a salmon in the most
+perfect condition, even with head and tail, the unhappy wretch enclosed
+in the heart of a large stone. I should certainly have pronounced this
+fish to be a cod, had not science decided it was a salmon of a large
+species--_genus salmo_, sixty vertebræ. It is now to be seen in the
+Natural History department, section _Salmonidæ_, of the Museum in the
+Jardin des Plantes, at Paris.
+
+Poor old salmon! said I, and I took off my hat when I had the honour of
+being presented to him; Poor old salmon! what wouldst thou have said,
+some twelve or fifteen thousand years ago, when, free and glorious thou
+didst pierce the briny waves,--when, perhaps, thou wast gambolling
+amongst the pointed summits of the Alps, plunging in ecstacy into the
+emerald depths of oceans now vanished,--what wouldst thou have said,
+could the thought have crossed thy brain, that one day thou shouldst be
+_here_? Under a glass! ticketted, numbered, pasted to the wall! forming
+an item in a collection of things fabulous, and exhibiting thy venerable
+form, thine antediluvian physiognomy, to thousands of _badauds_, who
+either pass thee without a glance, or examine thee with unfeeling
+curiosity, bestowing not a thought upon thy great age or thy cruel fate,
+or with a whit more respect for thee and thine awful history, than a
+cockney would show to a whitebait caught but yesterday in the Thames,
+and served up to him as a fraction of his fishy feast at Blackwall.
+
+Le Morvan, abounding in forests, was a district most congenial to the
+gloomy spirit of the religion of the ancient Druids; and therefore, in
+the earliest days of the history of France, they consecrated its groves
+of splendid oaks to the performance of their terrible rites. Remains of
+many of their massive monuments still exist, in the fields, in the deep
+valleys, and on the tops of the hills. Antique and mysterious all of
+them--three-pointed stones, three-cornered stones, and massive groups of
+stones in mystic circle ranged, round which, the peasant will tell you
+with bated breath, _les Gaurics_--the spirits of the giants--come to
+weep and bewail on the first night of each new moon. During the last
+century, a peasant, who was at work in a deep ditch in a beautiful field
+of this district, came, in the course of his excavations, upon a stone
+which indicated, that he was not far from one of those monuments with
+which he was so familiar; and, upon further investigation, it proved to
+be the black granite tomb of the famous Chindonax, the high-priest of
+the Druids. It contained many relics--the sickle and the collar of
+gold, the holy bracelets, the metal girdle, the sacrificial axe, the
+knife of brass; and, in the midst, was a glass urn, containing a pinch
+or two of grey powder--human dust! proud dust--sad and last remnant of
+the Druid Chindonax.
+
+Tumuli were, a century ago, very numerous in the uncultivated and desert
+tract of Les Bruyères; but these little artificial hillocks are
+disappearing very fast, for the peasants throw them down when they wish
+to clear and level the ground. These tumuli always contain collars in
+baked clay, arrow-heads, battle-axes of stone, pieces of crystal, and
+other articles of a similar description.
+
+Even Julius Cæsar, the cruel conqueror of Gaul, the pitiless victor of
+Vercingetorix--Cæsar, who cut off the hands of the Gauls as the only
+means of preventing them from fighting--Cæsar admired Le Morvan. He
+loved that savage country, he delighted in it; in the deep gorges of its
+mountains he pursued the large wolves and the wild boar, and in it he
+established the custom of relays of dogs the whole length of the woods.
+
+In this our day, on the summit of a mountain near the one on which is
+built the town of Chinon, may be seen the thick strong walls of ancient
+Roman buildings--buildings that have been fortified, bristling with
+palisades, and surrounded by moats--where Cæsar had his principal
+kennel, his hunting-box; in short, the spot which, in the third book of
+his 'Commentaries,' he calls _Castrum Caninum_.
+
+In the darkest and most sombre part of this forest, the lovers of
+antiquity will arrest their steps, delighted, at the very curious
+village of Carré-les-Tombes, so called from the immense number of tombs
+formerly found in its environs. So very numerous were they, that in 1615
+the Count de Chatelux, seigneur of the parish, had some of them sawn up
+to build and pave the present church and tower of the steeple, and also
+to roof the choir. They were seven or eight feet in length, and hollowed
+out like troughs. Tradition says they were all found empty, with the
+exception of five; in these reposed tall skeletons, blanched by time,
+each having a helmet on his head, and a Roman sword by his side. The
+stones of three only of these five tombs bore any inscription, name,
+mark, or sign. On one was a double cross, very coarsely engraved; on the
+second, a very large escutcheon, which the antiquaries, in spite of
+their magnifying glasses, their science, and their patience, could never
+decipher; and on the other, the most curious of the three, a Latin
+inscription, in a legible, but very ancient character.
+
+Having one day had the simplicity to translate this inscription to a
+young and beautiful Andalusian widow, smart was the rap of the fan that
+I had for my pains. I had parried her curiosity as long as I could, for
+her dark and dangerous eyes and clear olive complexion, which betrayed
+every pulse of her southern blood, combined to put me on my guard.
+Reader, will you wonder?--here is the inscription:
+
+     "Qui Dæmone pejus? Mulier rixosa: fug ..."
+
+"But what does it mean?" said my curious brunette.
+
+"Señora, that you are lovely."
+
+"Stuff, sir! not at all;" and she tossed her graceful head pettishly; "I
+really wish you to translate it."
+
+"Well--here, then: '_Qui Dæmone pejus_'--dark women; '_mulier
+rixosa_'--are the loveliest."
+
+"No, no! I say; I am sure that is not it. Say it, word for word, or I
+shall be angry--I vow I shall."
+
+"Word for word!" What was I to do?
+
+"Word for word," reiterated Dona Inez.
+
+"Indeed, Señora, I don't know ... you would not forgive me."
+
+"It is, then, something dreadful?"
+
+"No, not exactly dreadful, but----"
+
+"Dios! Dios! worlds of patience!" and she stamped her tiny foot; "will
+you go on? You kill me with vexation. Translate it, I say, word for
+word." And here the Dona, with discreet carelessness opening her fan,
+prepared to blush.
+
+"'_Qui Dæmone pejus_'--who is there worse than the devil? Hum!"--now for
+the pinch, thought I.
+
+"Go on! go on!--the next words."
+
+"'_Mulier rixosa_'--is--a----"
+
+"Well, go on, will you?"
+
+"Yes--a quarrelsome woman!"
+
+Like lightning the fan closed, fell upon the unlucky index of my left
+hand, which was thoughtlessly reposing upon the arm of the _causeuse_,
+and nearly knocked off the first joint, by way of reward for my
+reluctant compliance with her feminine wishes.
+
+"Excuse me, Señora," I said, after I had recovered my breath, "but you
+are very unjust. I had nothing to do with writing this ungallant phrase;
+it was a brutal Roman, no doubt."
+
+"You are making game of me,--I know you are."
+
+"No, indeed; you insisted upon my translating it word for word, and I
+have done your bidding."
+
+"Then the man was a wretch who wrote them."
+
+"I think so too, Señora."
+
+"A brute--an animal!"
+
+"Certainly, Señora."
+
+"A fool--an old horror!"
+
+"Most probably."
+
+"An ignorant slanderer!"
+
+"Oh! surely."
+
+"A monster!"
+
+"I wager anything you like of it." But it was of no use; unconditional
+assent failed to pacify her. So she went on for hours; and it cost me
+untold pains to earn the brunette's permission to offer her an ice, or
+to win one single smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     Le Morvan during the Middle Ages--Legendary horrors--Forest of La
+     Goulotte--La Croix Chavannes--La Croix Mordienne--Hôtel de
+     Chanty--Château de Lomervo--A French Bluebeard--Citadel of Lingou.
+
+
+But I must return from my Andalusian belle to the rugged Le Morvan,--a
+patriotic, but, in spite of the broken finger, by no means so
+captivating a subject.
+
+In feudal times--indeed, even so late as the last century--the district
+was a perfect nest of cut-throats, where no one could venture in safety
+for any honest purpose; without roads, and without police; full of dark
+caverns and half-demolished castles, affording all kinds of facilities
+for retreat and concealment; and thus it became the favourite rendezvous
+of the worst and most ferocious characters of those lawless times. It is
+widely different now. The hunter or the traveller--a woman or a
+child--may ramble through the length and breadth of its forests, equally
+in vain hoping for the excitement or fearing the danger of any
+adventure, beyond the common one of seeing a wolf or wild boar threading
+his way amongst the trees--a matter of no consequence at all. If,
+however, you love to collect wild and mournful tales--tales, even, of
+horror, with which to rivet the attention of the family group over the
+fire in the winter evenings,--stop at every ruined wall over which the
+lizard is harmlessly creeping; stop at every massive tower in which the
+owl is screeching--at every large isolated stone under which the serpent
+is hissing; linger along each tortuous path, and your peasant guide will
+tell you a tradition for each--for all.
+
+Thus, for instance: you are perhaps a few paces in front of him, in the
+forest of La Goulotte; and as the mid-day sun glances through the boughs
+above you, you see its rays rest upon a cross at a little distance; it
+was, you think, placed there for the rude worshippers of the province,
+and you contemplate it with complacent reverence, till Pierre comes up
+with you. "'Tis La Croix Chavannes, Monsieur, _la croix sinistre_. See!
+in the narrow pass between the two mountains, its black and moss-covered
+arms extended; at the end of each is a large knob, resembling a
+threatening hand." You walk on, and find the cross riddled with ball,
+chipped and notched, and carved with odd names. By the time you have
+reached it, Pierre has told you it was set on the spot where, many a
+long year ago, the Marquis de Chavannes was found, deluged in blood and
+quite dead; he had been pierced through the heart by a treacherous
+rival, who had joined his hunting party, and who basely took advantage
+of a moment when, in ardent pursuit of the grisly boar, De Chavannes was
+utterly unsuspicious of his evil intentions.
+
+A little further on is another cross, at the entrance of a deep, dark
+gorge: What does that cross mean? "That one is called La Croix
+Mordienne, Monsieur; at its foot our forefathers knelt to recommend
+their souls to God, before they ventured their lives in the dangers of
+Les Grand Ravins, where too many had been greeted by the bullet or the
+dagger." The granite steps of this cross--this cross which was erected
+for worship--are worn deep by the knees of suppliants for protection
+against the cruelty of their fellow-men; and it is even a more
+melancholy monument of the ferocity of those times, than the one which
+records the assassination of the unsuspecting Marquis de Chavannes.
+
+Pursue your way, and, crossing a wild and marshy heath, you notice a
+lonely house surrounded by thorny broom, the aspect of which is
+forbidding, though it is gaily painted. Surely, you think, it can only
+be the gloomy tales with which my guide has beguiled this morning's
+walk, that make one suspect there is a history connected with that
+house; and you ask him its name. "That is Chanty, Monsieur; that was
+once an inn. The landlord was a frightful character, even for his own
+times. When the doomed traveller halted at his door to seek shelter from
+the storm, or to refresh himself and steed the better to encounter the
+scorching heat, the villain drugged his wine, and, at nightfall,
+following him into the forest, despatched and robbed his then helpless
+victim. Or perhaps he would detain him with stirring tales of forest
+life, till he found himself too late prudently to go further that night;
+and, on his guard against every person but the right, ordering a bed of
+his treacherous host, would fall into that slumber from which the
+miscreant took safe means to prevent his ever awaking. When, after many
+years of impunity in the commission of these fearful crimes, the
+officers of justice were at last set upon him, and his house was
+searched, in the cellar were found fifteen headless skeletons!"
+
+Such a mass of silent, awful testimony perhaps never was produced to
+substantiate the allegation of similar villany against any man; and
+atrocities like these, of the early and middle ages, have given their
+character to the legends of Le Morvan, which, still carefully related
+from one generation to another, are so impressed on the minds of the
+people, that the honest peasant of the present day would rather make a
+circuit of a dozen or twenty miles, than pass in the deepening twilight
+near the scenes to which they relate. Not all the gold of Peru--no, nor
+even of California--would tempt _Les Pastoures_ to graze their flocks or
+herds near the scene of these horrid events, or pass them when the stars
+are spangling the dark arch of heaven.
+
+Here also may be seen the solid walls, the array of towers, the high
+belfry, the iron gates, and the ponderous drawbridges of the Château de
+Lomervo; and many are the dependent buildings, courts, and gardens,
+surrounded by the thick copse wood that covers its domain, which extends
+over three neighbouring hills. Under the principal façade is a large
+lake, whose blue waves bathe the walls; an immense mirror, ever
+reflecting the numberless turrets, and the grotesque birds and beasts
+which decorate the extremity of every waterspout; wherein, too, the
+tranquil marble giants, who support the broad balcony on their heads,
+seem to contemplate and admire their own imperturbable
+countenances--countenances that betrayed no shade of feeling at all
+that must have passed before their eyes. The gathering of armed knights
+for war or revelry; the rejoicings for the birth of an heir, or the
+lamentations for the death of the stern gray-headed lord; the bridal of
+one lovely daughter of the house of Lomervo, or the solitary departure
+of the mail-clad lover of another for the Crusades. But, it is said,
+they saw much more than all this: according to popular rumour, these
+calm deep waters are the cold and mute depositories of frightfully
+tragic secrets. One bright spring morning in the very olden time, says
+the tradition, a Lord of this domain left his castle. It was when the
+sweet violet first cast its odours on the breeze, when the bright and
+abundant bloom of the lilac and laburnum gracefully decorated the
+gardens, and the country was reclad in all the charming freshness of the
+season. After a short absence, he returned, accompanied by a lovely
+bride;--but ere long she died. He went again, returning with another,
+and was again received by his vassals with acclamations of joy; but
+gloomy suspicions at last arose, for in this way, in succeeding years,
+were brought to the Castle eleven young and beautiful damsels. One by
+one, they all disappeared. What became of them? No one knew, or, if they
+did, dared to tell. When, however, the long-dreaded lord was dead, some
+old women declared, that as he became tired of each wife, he stabbed her
+at midnight in one of his dungeons, took a sack from a heap which he
+kept in the corner, and, sewing her up with his own hands, carried her
+noiselessly to the water-gate, and laid her in the bottom of his boat.
+Silently and rapidly he rowed to the centre of the lake, and coolly
+dropped in his hapless victim amongst the sheltering reeds.
+
+"Ah! Monsieur," the village gossips will still tell you, as they make
+the sign of the cross, and tremble till you see their very stuff gowns
+shake again; "'tis all true, Monsieur; twenty times have we seen them in
+the moonlight--twenty times have we seen the poor souls, in their long
+white robes, with their pale faces, and the spot of blood on the left
+side, wandering over the lake." Poor Bluebeard, for whom in childhood we
+used to feel such awe, was a fool to this baron bold.
+
+There, a little in front of you, is the fortified village of Chamou,
+which in former years defended the eastern opening of Les Grand Ravins;
+also Lingou, an old citadel, three stories high, whose walls, now
+cracked and ivy bound, guarded them on the south. This piece of feudal
+architecture, full of trap-doors and dungeons, subterranean passages,
+and secret stairs, is another of the places dreaded and abhorred by the
+peasantry of Le Morvan; for near the walls, they say, at certain
+periods, sounds can be distinctly heard under ground, funeral chaunts,
+and the tolling of bells; and if you have the daring to apply your ear
+to the sod, you will be able to distinguish sighs and sobs, and the dull
+rattle of the earth thrown upon the victim's coffin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+     Castle of Bazoche--Maréchal de Vauban--Relics of the old
+     Marshal--Memorials of Philipsburg--Hôtel de Bazarne--Madame de
+     Pompadour's maître d'hôtel--Proof of the _curés'_ grief--Farm of
+     St. Hibaut--Youthful recollections--Monsieur de Cheribalde--Navarre
+     the Four-Pounder--His culverin.
+
+
+Each of the Radcliffian horrors narrated in the last chapter, though
+vastly marvellous, most probably originated in some dreadful deed of
+blood, on which the vulgar and superstitious admiration of excitement of
+those days delighted to enlarge. We shall now turn to the castle of
+Bazoche, where, in former days, dukes, counts and barons assembled every
+September with their hunting-train, to enjoy the pleasures of _la grande
+chasse_ and all its attendant revelry. The château in later years
+belonged to the renowned engineer, Sebastian-le-Prêtre, Maréchal de
+Vauban, who was a native of Le Morvan, and born in 1633 in the village
+of St. Leger de Foucheret. The humble roof under which this celebrated
+man first saw the light is now inhabited by a _sabot_-maker.
+
+Brought up, like Henry IV., amongst the peasants of his native
+province, like him he loved the remembrance of all connected with it and
+them; and when he died in Paris (1707), he desired that he might be
+buried at his beloved Château de Bazoche, where he had so often,
+sauntering under the noble _platanes_, sought and found relaxation from
+the turmoil and fatigue of a soldier's life, and forgotten the
+jealousies and injustice of the court. In the southern part of the
+building is the gallant old veteran's sleeping apartment--there still
+stands his bed: and his armour, with several swords and other articles
+which belonged to him, are still preserved. On the rampart, now probably
+silent for ever, are four pieces of cannon of large calibre, which
+thundered at the siege of Philipsburg, and were subsequently presented
+to the Marshal by Monseigneur, the brother of Louis XIV.
+
+Great were the works accomplished by the genius and perseverance of this
+famous general--famous, not only in his own profession, but as one of
+the honest characters of an age when honesty was rare indeed. He
+improved and perfected the defences of three hundred towns, and entirely
+constructed the fortifications of thirty-three others; was present at
+one hundred and forty battles, and conducted fifty-three sieges. The
+body of this eminent man was, in literal compliance with his orders,
+interred in a black marble tomb, under the damp flagstones of the castle
+chapel; but his heart, in melancholy violation of the spirit which
+dictated them, is enclosed in a monument, surmounted by his bust, in the
+church of the Hôtel des Invalides. Opposite to it is the tomb of
+Turenne, and under the same roof at last repose the mortal remains of
+Napoleon. Could their spirits perambulate this church at the hour when
+the dead only are said to be awake, and we could muster the courage to
+listen to their whispered communings, what should we hear? How severely
+would this tremendous triumvirate judge some of the so-called great men
+of our own time!
+
+But there are more modern edifices in Le Morvan, with far more agreeable
+episodes attached to them: take, for example, the Hôtel de Bazarne, a
+celebrated hostel, built among the green lanes on the borders of a wood
+of acacias--a beautiful flowery wood, which, when the merry month of May
+has heralded the perfumed pleasures of spring, dispenses them on every
+breeze over the adjacent country.
+
+Bazarne, in its healthy situation and splendid environs, boasts the best
+of cookery. The last owner of Bazarne was--Reader, the utmost exercise
+of your lively imagination will never supply you with the right
+name--was an _ancien maître d'hôtel_ of Madame la Marquise de
+Pompadour--Madame de Pompadour's steward! What could he have to do in
+the wilds of Le Morvan? Grand Jean was a curious little man, lively and
+brisk as a bird or a squirrel, powdered, curled, and smelling of rose
+and benjamin as if he were still at Versailles or Choisi. Grand Jean
+decorated the back of his head with a little pigtail, which much
+resembled a head of asparagus, and was always jumping and frisking from
+one shoulder to the other. His snuff-box was of rare enamel, his ruffles
+of point-lace, and his artistic performances in the culinary art were
+all carried on in vessels of solid silver. He was, from the point of his
+toe to the tips of his hair, the aristocrat of the saucepan and the
+stove.
+
+Grand Jean acquired, in our provincial district, a reputation perfectly
+monumental for the richness of his venison pasties, the refined flavour,
+the smoothness and the exquisite finish of his _omelettes aux truffes_
+and _au sang de chevreuil_. All the world of Le Morvan used to visit
+him. And the good _curés_? The good _curés_?--ah! they all went to visit
+him by caravans, as the faithful wend their way across the deserts to
+Mecca to pray at the tomb of the Prophet. And, when he died, they
+mourned indeed; the worthy divines, incredible as it may be, drank water
+for three days, in proof of the sincerity of their woe. Who would have
+doubted it?
+
+To the north of Bazarne, and on the road to the best district for sport,
+is seen at the foot of the gray mountains peeping cheerily, and like a
+white flower amidst the sombre foliage of the chestnut-trees, St.
+Hibaut, an immense farm, situated in an isolated spot, and built of the
+lava from an extinct volcano. Saint Hibaut, ah! the moment the pen
+traces that dear name my aching heart beats and throbs within my
+breast--before my eyes pass to and fro the memories of a vanished
+world--I seem to feel the fresh and odorous breezes from thy flowers,
+thy mossy banks and scented shrubs, and hear thy murmuring rills and the
+dash of thy wild torrents. St. Hibaut! lovely spot where flew so swiftly
+and so sweetly the brightest and gayest hours of my early years--St.
+Hibaut, the memory of thee burns within my heart: but those within thy
+walls, do they still think of me?
+
+Alas! in this world of tears and deception, of moral tortures and often
+of physical suffering--what is there more delightful, more consolatory
+than to sip, nay plunge the lips, and drink, yes, drink deep from that
+fresh and blessed spring, the memory of by-gone days. How great the
+burden of the man who has been the sport of fortune, whose life has been
+one continued sorrow, who, never satisfied with the present moment, is
+always hoping for better and happier days, and always regretting those
+which have been and are now no more. O! Reader--if many griefs have been
+your portion, if it has been your sad fate to tread with naked feet the
+thorny paths of life, if the foul passions of envy, rage, and hatred
+have found a place in your heart, close your eyes, forget your
+miseries--open, open for a moment that golden casket called the memory,
+in which are preserved, embalmed and imperishable, all those happy
+incidents which were the delight of your youth. Yes! open wide that
+casket, ponder well, and with renewed fondness o'er these treasures of
+the mind, and believe me after such holy reflections you will feel
+yourself more able to meet the contumely of the world, and find yourself
+a happier and a better man.
+
+Saint Hibaut, situated in a wild country, surrounded by lonely heaths
+and deep ravines, and water-courses whose sides are covered by almost
+impenetrable thickets, was at the time I speak of, that is to say, when
+I was eighteen years of age, the property of Monsieur de Cheribalde,
+the most intrepid, determined and ardent sportsman, who ever winded a
+horn, wore a huntsman's knife, or whistled a dog.
+
+Distant very nearly twenty miles from any human habitation, it was at
+times, the favourite rendezvous, the head-quarters of a great number of
+chevreuil, boar and other denizens of the forest. In winter, when the
+snow covered the earth for several weeks, the famished and furious
+wolves assembled in the neighbourhood in packs, carrying off in the
+broad daylight everything they could lay their teeth on; sheep and
+shepherd, dogs and huntsman, horse and horseman, bones, hair, and skins
+half-tanned, old hats and shoes--even the corrupt bodies of the dead
+were torn from their resting-places, and eaten by these horrid animals.
+
+On moonlight nights, these brutes would come fearlessly up to the very
+walls of the farm, dancing their sarabandes in the snow, howling like so
+many devils, shrieking and showing their long white teeth, and demanding
+in unmistakable terms something or somebody to devour; their yells,
+their cries of rage, of victory, and of love, intermingled with the
+funereal song of the screech-owl, and the lugubrious melodies which the
+current from the blast without caused in the large open chimneys,--was
+the concert, which from December to April lulled the inmates of St.
+Hibaut to sleep; music that would I doubt not have reduced even the
+formidable proportions of the inimitable Lablache, and made Mario sing
+out of tune.
+
+But these were the good old times, the good old times! Well do I
+remember, when the shadows of those winter evenings lengthened, when
+nightfall came, and when at last the moon arose, bringing out in light
+and shade every object within the court-yard, and at some distance from
+the house, then it was that Monsieur de Cheribalde went his rounds. I
+see him in my mind's eye now, with his gun on his shoulder, followed by
+his five enormous bloodhounds strong and fierce as lions, and Navarre,
+surnamed the Four-Pounder, who walked a few paces to the right and left,
+opening his large saucer eyes, poking and squinting into every bush and
+corner.
+
+Navarre, for forty years the head gamekeeper of the domain, was his
+master's right hand, his _alter ego_. He had never in his whole life
+been beyond his woods,--had never seen the church-steeple of a great
+town. To him, the dark belt of firs that skirted the horizon, was the
+limit of the world; and when told that the sun never set, and that when
+it sank behind the mountains, it was only continuing its course, to beam
+bright in other skies and on other lands, and to ripen other
+harvests,--Navarre smiled, and did not believe a word. Happy Navarre!
+what did it signify to him what was done, or what happened behind those
+hills? He was thin and dry as a match, and tall as a Norwegian spruce,
+with a face covered with hair; he smoked, and tossed off glass after
+glass of brandy, like a Dutchman. In addition to these peculiarities,
+Navarre was lame of the right leg, a boar having one day kindly applied
+his tusky lancet to his thigh, and gored him seriously, before, hand to
+hand, he managed to finish him with his hunting-knife.
+
+At the first glance, Navarre's aspect appeared strange and forbidding,
+and savage as the locality in which he lived. The fact was, that, like
+Robinson Crusoe, he was frequently arrayed in a suit of skins of which
+he had been the architect, on a fantastic pattern, that his own queer
+imagination had created.
+
+On great occasions the veteran keeper donned a helmet, or a gray
+three-cornered hat, of so ridiculous a shape--so royally absurd--that
+for my life, when he was thus attired, I could not, even in the presence
+of his master, refrain from laughter; then he would tell you, with a
+gravity it was impossible to disturb, that it had taken him fifteen
+days, eight skins of wild cats, and twelve squirrel's tails, to achieve
+this happy _chef-d'oeuvre_ of the tailoring art. But I once said to
+him, "My good Navarre, in the name of heaven tell me, from what Japanese
+manuscript did you fish out that odious hat? Why, with such a shed, you
+might very well be mistaken for Chin-ko-fi-ku-o, high-priest of the
+temple of Twi. Do give me the address of your hatter, my dear friend."
+Navarre, furious, gave no reply.
+
+But the time really to admire him--to see the head gamekeeper in all his
+splendour--was in winter, in a hard frost, when, covered with skins and
+motionless, he lay in ambush in a black ravine, waiting for a boar. Oh!
+then, for certain, the sight of him was anything but encouraging; for he
+looked like some unknown animal, some variety of the species _Bonassus_,
+a crocodile on end, a crumpled-up elephant, or a great bear on the
+watch. And when he loaded his rifle--a sort of culverin or wall-piece,
+which no one but himself knew how to manage--gracious powers! he was
+something to see. His first movement was to seize the gigantic weapon in
+the middle, as a policeman would fasten upon a favourite thief; and then
+he set himself to blow into the barrel with such fury, that had there
+been an ounce of wadding left, the blast would have blown it all through
+the enormous touch-hole. Being well assured after this that neither an
+adder nor a slow-worm had taken up his domicile within the barrel, he
+began to load. One charge--two charges--then a third, "as a compliment,"
+and after this, a fourth, "for good luck." On this infernal
+charge--imperial, as he called it--this Vesuvius, this volcano of
+saltpetre, he threw half-a-dozen balls, or, if he was out of them, a
+handful of nails; and then he rammed--rammed--rammed away, like a
+pavior.
+
+My hair stood on end, and every limb trembled when he fired it off--holy
+St. Francis!--the very forest bent, and coughed, and sighed; and it made
+as much flame, smoke, noise, and carnage, as a battery of horse
+artillery. One might have heard it all over Burgundy, or Provence for
+what I know; and hence, no doubt, his _sobriquet_ of "the Four-Pounder."
+I always thought his shoulder must be made of heart of oak. On one
+occasion he did me the incomparable favour of loading my gun in this
+fashion, but luckily for me, informed me of this piece of civility
+before we started; and greatly was he chagrined when I declined to fire
+it. In the common occurrences of life, Navarre was a right good fellow;
+he had great good sense, could take a joke, was simple and modest in
+his manners, and very kind-hearted and retiring. But once in the forest,
+the dogs uncoupled, and the business of the chase commenced, he bounded
+to the front; his eyes flashed, his nostrils dilated, he took a deep
+breath, listened, and snuffed the air; he limped no longer; and as his
+courage was unequalled, and his knowledge of wood-craft profound, the
+proudest of every rank were content to follow where he led.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+     Bird's-eye view of the forests--The student's visit to his uncle in
+     the country--Sallies forth in the early morning--Meets a
+     cuckoo--Follows him--The cuckoo too much for him--Gives up the
+     pursuit--Finds he has lost his way--Agreeable vespers--Night in the
+     forest--Wolves--Up a beech tree--A friend in need--The student bids
+     adieu to Le Morvan.
+
+
+We have alluded in the opening chapters to the inexhaustible wealth
+drawn by the inhabitants from the woods of Le Morvan, though we have as
+yet touched but slightly on their beauties. To see them at one _coup
+d'oeil_, in all the splendour of their extent, one ought to call for
+the veteran, Mr. Green, and, safely (?) lodged in his car, with plenty
+of sandwiches and champagne, fly and soar above these forests of La
+Belle France. By St. Hubert, gentle reader, your eyes would be feasted
+with a glorious sight. Beneath your feet you would, in autumn, behold a
+verdant expanse in every variety of light and shade--a sea of leaves,
+which, though sometimes in repose, more often moan and murmur, while the
+giant arms they clothe rock to and fro in the gale, like the restless
+waves of the troubled deep.
+
+Here Nature displays all her sylvan grandeur; here she has scattered,
+with a liberal hand, every charm that foliage can give to earth, and
+many a lovely flower to scent the evening breeze. Descend, and in this
+immense labyrinth you will find a tangled skein of forest paths, in
+which it is never prudent to ramble alone; as will be seen by the
+following adventure, which befell a young student who once went to Le
+Morvan, anticipating infinite pleasure in spending a few weeks at the
+house of an old uncle, a rich proprietor and owner of a large farm in
+the forest of Erveau.
+
+Residing from his infancy in the department of the Seine, he was quite
+ignorant of a forest life; and the morning was yet early when he arose
+from his bed and sallied forth to enjoy the fresh and fragrant air, of
+which he had a foretaste at his open window, and take a ramble till the
+hour of breakfast summoned him to his uncle's hospitable fare. All
+without was life and sweetness; every bush had its little chorister; the
+sun brilliant, but not as yet high in the heavens, threw his bright rays
+in chequered light and shade between the trees, and made the pearly
+tears of night, which hung quivering on each bending blade of grass,
+sparkle like diamonds of the purest water. The student was in raptures,
+and after a brief survey of the garden, he cast a longing eye upon the
+woods which he so much wished to penetrate. On he walked, stopping
+occasionally to muse on the enchanting scene around him, when all at
+once he espied, on the lofty branches of an ash, a cuckoo! At the sight
+of this splendid bird, our Parisian sportsman felt his heart pit-a-pat
+and jump like a girl's in love; and without stopping any longer to
+admire the marvels of Nature, he turned hastily back to his uncle's
+abode, in search of a gun, with which to annihilate the luckless
+harbinger of spring. He soon found one, ready loaded, in the hall; and,
+with his heart full of hope and his legs full of precaution, he glided
+mysteriously from one tree to another, endeavouring, by all possible
+means, to conceal his approach from the wily cuckoo, which, perched on
+high, was throwing into space his two dull notes, regular and monotonous
+as the tick-tick of an old-fashioned clock.
+
+Warily and stealthily did the student approach; bent nearly double, he
+scarcely drew his breath, as his distance from the tree grew less; but,
+says the song of the poacher,--
+
+  "If women smell tricks, cuckoos smell powder."
+
+And again,--
+
+  "'Tis a difficult thing to catch woman at fault,
+  More difficult still, an old cuckoo with salt."
+
+Without appearing to do so, from the height of his leafy turret, the
+prudent cuckoo kept a wary eye upon the tortuous movements of his enemy;
+but as he saw at a glance what sort of a customer he had to deal with,
+he evidently did not feel any particular hurry to shift his quarters:
+only every time he saw the double barrel moving up to the Parisian's
+shoulder, and that hostilities on his part were about to be opened, he,
+as if just for fun, dropped his own dear brown self on the branch below
+him, flapped his wings, and soon perching himself on a tree a little
+further off, gravely re-opened his beak and resumed his monotonous
+chant.
+
+The young student, piqued and mortified at this discreet behaviour of
+the cuckoo, which, like happiness, was always on the wing, perseveringly
+followed the provoking bird--one walked, the other flew, the distance
+increased at every flight, and thus they got over a great deal of
+ground; the young man still believing his uncle's farm was close behind
+him--the cuckoo perfectly easy, knowing full well he could find his
+leafy home whenever he might please to return to it. So, for the
+fiftieth time, perhaps, the cuckoo was vanishing in the foliage, when a
+sudden thought cramped the legs and cut short the obstinate pursuit of
+the young lawyer; he then, for the first time, remembered the wholesome
+advice his uncle had given him on his arrival.--"Beware, my fine fellow,
+beware of going alone in the forest, for to those who know not how to
+read their way, that is, on the bark of the trees, the mossy stones, and
+dry or broken twigs, the forest is full of snares and danger, of
+deceitful echos and strange noises that attract and mislead the
+inexperienced sportsman."
+
+"By Juno," thought our hero, "as it is most certain that in Paris they
+are not yet clever enough to teach us geography on the bark of trees, I
+am an uncommonly lucky fellow to have just remembered the dear old
+gentleman's warning. Hang the infernal cuckoo! Go to the devil, you
+hideous cuckoo! Good morning, sir, my compliments at home." And then,
+with his terrible carbine under his arm, he retraced his steps,
+expecting every moment to see peeping through the trees in front of him,
+his uncle's large white house and lofty dove-cote.
+
+But, alas! no such thing met his hungry eyes; still on he walked, trees
+after trees were passed, glade after glade, and many a long avenue, but
+neither white farm-house nor gay green shutters greeted his anxious
+sight. "How odd," thought he, "how very odd; this, I feel confident, is
+the identical spot near which I first noticed that odious cuckoo; here
+is the self-same little regiment of white daisies that my feet pressed
+not half an hour ago; see now, this chestnut, this immense chestnut,
+whose monstrous roots lie twisting about the ground like a black brood
+of ugly snakes--certainly this was the way I came, surely I saw these
+roots, and yet no house appears." And thus, from time to time, he
+reasoned with himself, looking on either side for some object that he
+could recognize with certainty; at last, grown thoroughly hungry and
+impatient, he hallooed and shouted, but no voice replied, not the
+slightest sound was floating in the air. It was then he felt he had lost
+his way,--that he was alone, yes, alone in the forest of Erveau, in a
+leafy wilderness stretching many miles.
+
+Many a vow he made and many a blackberry he picked as he walked hither
+and thither, in every direction. The day wore on, the sun had long
+passed the meridian, and with the coming evening rose a gentle breeze,
+which moaned in the dry ferns; and this and the rustling of the giant
+creepers that reached from tree to tree, and swung between the branches,
+fell mournfully on the student's ear. A vague fear, a fatal
+presentiment of evil began to creep over him; again he shouted, the echo
+from a dark wild ravine alone replied; he fired his gun again and again,
+the echo alone answered his signal of distress, and nothing could he
+hear, except at intervals, far, far away in the green depths of the
+forest, the notes cuckoo--cuckoo.
+
+Faint and weary, from hunger and fatigue, the young man, no longer able
+to proceed, fell down at the foot of a spreading beech, and gave way to
+an agony of grief; drops of cold sweat stood upon his brow; the clammy
+feeling of fear took possession of his heart, and though, perhaps, he
+would have had no objection to try the fortune of the pistol or the
+sword, in any college broil or senseless riot of the populace, the
+circumstances under which he then stood were so new to him, that he was
+quite unmanned and incapable of further exertion.
+
+In blood-red streaks sank the setting sun, his large yellow orb glancing
+through the trees like the dimmed eye of some giant ogre; twilight came,
+and soon after every valley lay in shadow; the breeze, as if waking from
+its gentle slumbers, whistled in the highest branches, and, increasing
+in force, rocked the lower limbs, which moaned mournfully as the night
+closed in.
+
+Hungry and alarmed, and now quite worn out with his lengthened walk, the
+young Parisian lay stretched on the moss, listening with painful anxiety
+to this melancholy conversation of the woods, when, suddenly, and as
+night fell, spreading over the earth her sable wings and shaking from
+the folds of her robe the luminous legions of stars, he heard a
+prolonged and sonorous howl in the distance--a strolling wolf--
+
+  "Cruel as Death! and hungry as the grave!
+  Burning for blood! bony and gaunt and grim,"
+
+had scented the Parisian and was inviting his good friends with the long
+teeth, to come and sup on the dainty morsel. Touched as if by a hot
+iron, up got the terrified youth, and striking his ten nails into the
+friendly tree near him like an Indian monkey, he was in an instant many
+feet above its base. Here, astride upon a branch, shivering and shaking,
+each hair on end, and murmuring many a Pater and Ave Maria, unsaid for
+years, he passed the most horrific night that any citizen of the
+department of the Seine had ever been known to spend in the middle of
+the forest of Erveau.
+
+The following morning, but not until the sun had already run nearly
+half his course, for he never dared to leave his timber observatory
+before, _le pauvre diable_ dropped down from his perch like an
+acorn--and, marching off with weary steps, and scarcely a hope that ere
+another night fell he should gain the shelter of some cottage, he
+dragged himself along. On he rolled from side to side, torn with the
+thorns and bitten by the gnats that swarmed around him, sometimes
+calling upon his mother, sometimes upon the saints--when a wood-cutter
+happily met, and seeing his exhausted condition, threw the slim student
+over his shoulders like a bundle of straw, and carried him to a
+neighbouring village. There, he was put to bed and attended with every
+care, when he soon recovered--and received the charming intelligence
+that he was about forty miles from his uncle's house--that he had been
+wandering for that distance in the most beautiful part of the forest of
+Erveau, and that if by any chance he had deviated a little more to the
+right in his unpleasant steeple-chase across the woods, he would have
+gone, in a straight line, eighty-six miles without meeting house or
+cottage or human soul until he found himself at the gates of Dijon,
+chief town of the Côte-d'Or, where he might and would, no doubt, have
+been able to refresh himself with a bottle of Beaune and inspect the
+Gothic tombs of the great Dukes of Burgundy.
+
+Grateful was the unlucky lad to think that he had not taken this road,
+and truly glad was he when, under the woodcutter's care, he reached his
+uncle's white house. No sooner, however, was he fairly recovered from
+his misadventure, than he packed up his superb cambric shirts, his Lyons
+silk socks, patent leather boots, and white Jouvin gloves; squeezed the
+hand of his aunt, gave a doubtful shake to that of his uncle, and
+started in the _malle poste_ for the capital. His father's brother and
+Le Morvan never saw him more.
+
+Such adventures, however, as these are rare, and you must have, indeed,
+a double dose of bad fortune to be lost in such a woful way, and spend,
+without meeting any mortal soul, thirty long hours in the woods: for
+though the tract of forest is very extensive, there are strewed, here
+and there, several merry villages, large farms, and hunting-boxes,
+snugly hidden, it is true, beneath the trees,--but which an experienced
+huntsman very soon discovers when he stands in need of assistance or a
+night's lodging.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     Charms of a forest life to the sportsman--The Poachers--Le Père
+     Séguin--His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers--The first
+     buck--A bad shot.
+
+
+However dangerous the forests of Le Morvan may be, and certainly are, to
+the citizen of Paris, whose knowledge of wood-craft, whatever may have
+been his delightful visions of forest life, of fairy revels, and
+hair-breadth escapes, is about equal to his proficiency in navigation,
+they are no labyrinth to the true sportsman of this province; in his
+mind, they are mapped with an accuracy perfectly astonishing to the
+uninitiated in the countless indications of nature, of which the eye of
+man becomes so keenly observant when thrown constantly into her
+fascinating society. Let a man of a vigorous health, active frame, and
+contemplative mind once enter, even for a short time, upon the
+enjoyments of sporting, wild and varied as are those of Le Morvan, it
+would be difficult to withdraw him from its delights, and persuade him
+that it is in any way desirable to return to the crowded haunts of men,
+and condemn himself to resume the harassing struggle for wealth or a
+competence in his own legitimate sphere.
+
+No; there scarcely breathes the human being who could be so insensible
+to the charms of scenery like that of Le Morvan as to do so without a
+pang. 'Tis a chalice of gold, brimful of real pleasures for those who
+love the joys of the open air; 'tis alive with fish and game, and has
+its vineyards and its cornfields too.
+
+But we are thinking of the forests only, of the boar--that potentate of
+the solitudes--and the wild cat: of the ravines and caves, to which the
+hardy and venturous hunter, through bush, brake, or briar, over
+streamlet or torrent, will chace the ravenous wolf,--who, bearing the
+iron ball in his lacerated side, ever and anon gnaws the wound in his
+rage, and slinks on weeping tears of blood. The roebuck and the hare,
+the feathered and the finny tribe, are ever presenting an endless
+alternation of amusement more or less exciting; and the sportsman has
+but to settle with himself, when the rosy morn appears, whether he will
+bestride his gallant steed, or throw the rod or rifle over his
+shoulder,--his day's pleasure is safe.
+
+It matters not whether the falling leaf announces that the woods are
+clearing for him, the deep snow warns him to look to the protection of
+his flocks from the dangerous intrusion of the wolves, or the genial air
+and the brilliant flies tell him that the silvery tenants of the many
+streams and rivers that intersect the forest are ready to provide him
+sport.
+
+Arouse thee, sportsman! when the dark clouds of night fly before the
+rays of Phoebus as a troop of timid antelopes before the
+leopard,--when the lark abandons his mossy bed, and soaring sends forth
+his joyous carol,
+
+  "----blythe to greet
+  The purpling East,"
+
+then, O sportsman, up, and to horse! Away! bending over the saddle-bow,
+follow the wild deer across the heath--inhale the perfume of the
+trampled thyme. Draw bridle for a moment, and pity the thousands of thy
+fellow-men to whom the pure air and light are denied, and let thy
+heartfelt thanksgivings for thy free and happy lot ascend to the azure
+battlements of heaven. Beneath your gaze lie valleys whence rise the
+morning mists as do the clouds from the richly-perfumed censer, and
+float over the bosom of the plain ere they wreathe the mountain side;
+all the bushes sing, every leaf is shining to welcome the glorious sun
+as he rises majestically over that high dark range, and the bright blue
+dome of day is revealed in all its purity.
+
+Plunge onward to the forest--you will perhaps fall in with one of the
+_braconniers_--must I call them poachers?--of which there are many; all
+alike, in one sense, yet each having the most whimsical characteristics.
+The reader knows my friend Navarre, but I must now introduce him to
+another of the cronies of my youth, the Père Séguin, the thoughts of
+whom revive all the sweet recollections of my home when my family lived
+in the ancient and picturesque Vezelay.
+
+Séguin's "form and feature" are as well impressed upon my memory as
+those even of Navarre. Could any one forget him? I should think not; for
+he was so fantastic and mysterious, such a determined sportsman and
+eccentric desperado, that he was known to all Le Morvan.
+
+As well as I remember, he was about fifty-five years of age when I first
+knew him; from his earliest boyhood he had fancied and loved a
+forester's life, and for more than forty years had realized his dreams
+of its wild independence. The woods, the rocks, the streams had no
+secrets for him; he understood all their murmurs and their silence--he
+knew the habits of every bird and beast of these forests and the
+whereabouts of every large trout in his clear cold hole.
+
+But it is of no use to describe Père Séguin; to know him you must hunt
+with him, and that pretty often, too--as I have done from my earliest
+youth. I am now with him, on one of those joyous mornings of my boyhood,
+and having threaded the woods for an hour, he has placed me in ambuscade
+at the corner of a copse. Here, after a short delay, he pulls out his
+watch, a time-piece weighing about two pounds, and after a mute
+consultation with the hands, says in a low decided tone:
+
+"Good! Three o'clock. Stop here, youngster, and in an hour I shall send
+you a buck."
+
+"A buck at four o'clock? How are you to tell that?" And I felt that I
+opened my eyes as an oyster does his bivalve domicile at high water. "A
+buck! you are joking."
+
+"I never joke," said the Père Séguin with a hoarse grunt, walking away,
+and his face did not belie his words.
+
+"Well, then, but how can you possibly--Stop, do, for one moment. Hear
+me! holla! Père Séguin! I say, you old humbug.--By Socrates, he is off."
+
+But Père Séguin was already striding fast and far through the bending
+branches, wilfully, if not really out of hearing, and I had nothing to
+do but to watch for the promised game. I had no watch, and it seemed to
+me long after the appointed hour, when my reverie was disturbed by a low
+voice, from I knew not where,--from heaven, from earth, from a murmuring
+brook, from a tree,--which dropped these words in my ear.
+
+"Silence--four o'clock--the buck."
+
+At that moment I saw the ears of the roebuck, and soon after the animal
+itself, pausing for a moment in his leisurely course, just where he
+ought to be for a good shot. But amazement and trepidation seized me. I
+fired in a hurry, and the deer bounded off unscathed. "How clumsy," said
+I to the Père Séguin, as he emerged from the thicket, "and how
+unfortunate, for I have some friends coming to dine with me this week."
+
+"Never mind, never mind," replied the poacher; "I will fill your larder
+to-morrow."
+
+"Well, you are a good fellow, but remember I require also some fish--a
+fine dish of trout."
+
+"Very well," growled the Père, "you shall have one;" and without a word
+more the _braconnier_ is off; and soon after I meet him with his rod, a
+young fir-tree, on his shoulder, a box of worms as large as snakes, and
+with the most entire confidence in his piscatory powers, proceeding on
+his way to the stream that will suit his purpose. In the evening he
+reappears, taking from the fresh grass in which he has carried them,
+three or four magnificent fish studded with drops of gold. White wine
+and choice aromatic herbs flavour them, and you rejoice in the pleasure
+and praises of your friends as they partake of the savoury meal.
+
+And now for a sketch, if possible, of this excellent purveyor. Père
+Séguin was tall as an obelisk, strong as a Hercules, _vif_ as gunpowder,
+thin and sinewy as any wolf in his beloved forests. His ear large, flat,
+and full of hair; his teeth long, white, regular, and sharp as those of
+his favourite and extraordinary dog; his eyes yellow, calm, and piercing
+as those of a mountain eagle, and his chin had never been desecrated
+with a razor. A kind of brushwood covered his face, and through it
+peeped, with the tip of his hooked nose, the features I have described.
+This immense uncultivated beard, tucked carefully within his waistcoat,
+reached nearly to his waist. Did I say it had never been shaved? I might
+add, it had never been combed. Lurking in it you might see leaves,
+white hairs, red hairs, bits of a butterfly's wing, two or three jay's
+feathers, a nutshell, some tobacco, a blade or two of grass, the cup of
+an acorn, or a little moss. Indeed, so strangely was it garnished that,
+when asleep on the grass under the trees, a robin was once seen to hover
+over him undecided as to whether she would build her nest in it, or pick
+out materials to make one elsewhere.
+
+Of uncommon intelligence, peculiarly taciturn, brave, frank, loyal, and
+incapable of a bad action, his mind was of a gloomy cast; he was always
+alone, he had no friends, he wanted none, and, if not hunting, reading
+the Bible or muttering to himself, with his eyes fixed on the ground. He
+lived like the woodcock, sad and solitary in his hole.
+
+The peasants dreaded him, and never spoke of him but as the _Sorcier_,
+the _Vieux Diable_; when naughty little children refused to learn their
+letters or to go to bed, it was only necessary to threaten them with
+sending for the Père Séguin and his red dog, and the whole of the rosy
+troop would scamper off to their nursery in an instant.
+
+I need scarcely say that amongst his other perfections he was a perfect
+shot--the best in the department,--and the moment he touched the
+trigger death winged his charge at two hundred paces. With a single ball
+from his rifle would he bring down the wild cat from the highest
+branches, and cut the poor squirrels in two, stop the howl of the wolf,
+or shiver the iron frontal bones of the wild boar.
+
+In short, his gun was his joy, his friend, his mistress, his all; he
+spoke to it, caressed it, rocked it on his knees as a mother would her
+sick child, and took a thousand times more care of it than he would have
+bestowed upon the most lovely wife, had he ever done anything so rash as
+to marry. It was a singular accident that brought us acquainted; and if
+I had had any respect for chronology, I should have related it before.
+
+One day, when rambling over the mountain in search of game, I put up and
+fired at a hare; she was evidently hit, and I gave chase, yet though
+puss had but three legs effective I could not overtake her,
+
+  "I follow'd fast, but faster did she fly;"
+
+at last, a bank stopped and turned her, and I was on the point of taking
+possession when a large red brindled dog dashed past and anticipated my
+purpose, carrying off my hare, without bestowing so much as a glance
+upon me,--no, not even appearing to see that I was there. Electrified
+with astonishment, my left leg seemed pinned to the spot, while the
+right, extended on a level with my shoulder, emulated that of Cerito in
+"Giselle;" but recovering myself, I followed the thief, who made off
+with the speed of a greyhound, in the direction of a neighbouring wood,
+and on arriving at a little green knoll almost as soon as he did, I came
+suddenly upon a strange and uncouth-looking figure who was reclining
+comfortably on the grass beneath the shade of a large walnut-tree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     Le Père Séguin's collation--The young sportsman and the hare--The
+     quarrel--The apology--The reconciliation--The cemetery--Bait for
+     barbel--Le Père Séguin's deceased friends--The return home.
+
+
+The extraordinary personage in whose presence I so suddenly found myself
+was the celebrated Père Séguin, who, tired with his morning's sport, was
+taking his noontide meal; that is, appeasing his appetite, always
+enormous, with a loaf of black rye bread, into which he plunged his
+ivory teeth with hearty rapidity, now and then taking a mouthful out of
+a turnip he had pulled in a field hard by. The abominable quadruped was
+there too, planted on his haunches, just in front of his master, looking
+as innocent as a lamb, though still holding my hare between his teeth,
+probably not daring to lay it down without permission.
+
+Père Séguin ate, drank, twisted his wiry moustache, dipped his turnip in
+the coarse salt, and from time to time cast a glance at his vile dog,
+without deigning to speak a word, or even to acknowledge my presence.
+Furious at this behaviour, I bowed and said to him, "So, you are the
+owner of this precious cur?"
+
+The poacher signified his assent by a slight movement of the head.
+
+"Well, if the dog belongs to you, the hare in his mouth belongs to me."
+
+"Does it?" said the Père Séguin, and he looked at his dog, who winked
+his eye and shook his paw: "my dog tells me he caught this hare
+running."
+
+"I know it, the rascally vagabond! and with no great trouble either,
+seeing that the hare was half dead, and had but three legs to go upon."
+
+Père Séguin threw his yellow eye on the cur again, and, as if he had
+understood all we said, he once more shook his paw, and gave a sort of
+sneeze.
+
+"My dog repeats, he coursed the hare well, and has a right to her."
+
+"What do you mean by saying he has a right to her, when I tell you the
+hare belongs to me?"
+
+"And my dog says the reverse."
+
+"Go to Dijon with your dog!" I exclaimed, "I tell you the hare is mine."
+
+"My dog never told a lie," rejoined the _braconnier_, and he dipped the
+remnant of his turnip for the twentieth time in the salt. "Never."
+
+"Then _I_ am the liar," said I, beginning to feel hot, "I am the liar,
+ah! am I? By Jupiter! your dog, you bearded fool--your cur of a dog? I
+do not care a _sous_ for his carcass any more than I do for yours. I'll
+have my hare."
+
+"Don't get excited, young man--don't be savage, I beg of you; for, as
+sure as I am a sinner, you'll have a crop of pimples on your nose
+to-morrow,--and red pimples on the nose are not pretty."
+
+"Keep your jokes to yourself, old man, or on my honour you shall repent
+it!"
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" grinned the Père Séguin, "Ha! ha! ha! capital turnip."
+
+"Houp! houp! houp!" went the dog.
+
+I was bewildered; such a strange adventure had never befallen me before.
+
+"Once, twice--will you give me my hare?"
+
+"Have I any hare of yours?"
+
+"You? No, but your dog."
+
+"Ha! that's another affair. You must settle that with him. Take your
+hare, and let me eat my turnip in peace."
+
+Enraged at this, I rushed at the carroty dog, but he was off in an
+instant, jumping first behind the tree, and then behind his master,
+keeping my hare all the time fast in his mouth till I was fairly out of
+breath, and aggravated beyond expression.
+
+I looked towards the poacher. He was quietly plucking the top off a
+fresh turnip, but under the air of icy indifference which pervaded his
+whole exterior I detected a sarcastic smile, which fully convinced me
+that I was the laughing-stock of man and beast. I took my resolution,
+and Père Séguin, who had followed my movements with his eye, said drily,
+as I was going to put a cap on, "What are you going to do young man?"
+
+"Oh, nothing! just to kill your dog for taking my hare."
+
+"Bah! you're joking."
+
+"Joking! am I? You shall see;" and I proceeded quietly to raise my gun.
+
+"Gently, my lad," roared the Père Séguin, and he seized the weapon in
+his iron grasp.
+
+"I may be but a 'lad,' but I'll not give up my rights; the hare is mine,
+and I'll have her. Let go my gun!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"By----"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Then look out for yourself," said I, and with a rapid movement I
+attempted to draw my _couteau de chasse_; but long before I could get
+it out, he had seized me with both hands, and in a twinkling I measured
+my length upon the turf, and the knife was in his possession.
+
+"Child of violence!" he said, as he set me again on my legs, and pushed
+me from him, "Do you then already love to shed blood? Would you kill a
+man for a hare? Have you not the sense to distinguish a joke from an
+insult? There," he added, giving me back my knife, which had fallen from
+its sheath in the struggle, "young man, do your worst!"
+
+But I was now as angry with myself as I had been with the old man, and
+heartily ashamed of my conduct. I turned on my heel, and walked off,
+vexed beyond expression at my intemperate folly.
+
+The very next day, as good fortune would have it, I met him again in the
+forest, and lost not a moment in asking his forgiveness for my brutal
+conduct of the previous day.
+
+"Ah! you acknowledge your fault, do you?" replied the Père Séguin,
+"enough, that shows you have a heart. I bear you no ill-will; you are
+_vif_ as the mountain breeze, but that comes of being young. Give me
+your hand, and when you want a dove or lilies of the valley for your
+sister, venison or wild boar for your friends, I, my gun, and my dog,
+are at your service; but"--and he whispered in my ear--"no more knives."
+
+"See! see!" and I opened my jacket, "it is gone. I threw it into the
+moat this morning."
+
+"'Tis well! very well! You have had a happy escape, young man. _Au
+revoir._ Now, Faro, take your leave of Monsieur;" and instantly obeying
+a sign from his master, the red dog licked my boots. A moment more, and
+they were both lost to view in the forest.
+
+From that time I was frequently with the Père Séguin, for he seemed to
+have a fancy--a sort of affection for me, and on my part I had an
+incomprehensible pleasure in his society, though in the early part of
+our acquaintance I could not divest myself of an undefined dread of him;
+and had some difficulty in reconciling myself to the harsh and guttural
+tones of his voice, and his peculiarly severe physiognomy. Nevertheless,
+many an evening did I slip away from the paternal hearth, much to the
+distress of my poor mother, to seat myself on one of his wooden stools,
+and eat the chestnuts he was roasting in the embers, while he related,
+by the pale light of his small charcoal fire, which but dimly showed the
+extent even of his small room, frightful stories of ghosts, suicides,
+drownings, and fearful murders, with which he delighted to terrify me;
+and, dear reader, he succeeded to perfection, for all the time I sat
+listening to them I was cold, and trembled like a leaf in the northern
+blast.
+
+Well do I remember--yes, as well as if it had been yesterday--going out
+with him to fish for barbel, and joining him over-night to go in search
+of bait. I found him crouched by his fire, eating potatoes out of the
+same plate with his dog. This frugal meal over, he took up a small
+lantern, a large box, and a long spade, and beckoned me to follow him.
+
+The moon was rising as we left the hut, but red as blood, lightning
+streaked the sky at short intervals, and the wind howled as if a storm
+was approaching. Père Séguin rubbed his hands, and an expression of
+satisfaction passed across his extraordinary countenance; for, living as
+he did a lonely wandering life, he had become superstitious, and firmly
+believed that worms caught at certain hours of the night, and in a
+breeze that foretold an approaching tempest, were more likely to attract
+the fish than those taken in the daylight. To this article of his creed
+I offered no objection, but I own my heart shrunk within me when I
+observed that he took the direct road to the burial-ground. "Père
+Séguin," said I, "we need go no further; the turf in this lane is
+capital; we shall find all we want here without a longer walk." "Since
+when," he inquired in a voice that seemed to come from between his
+shoulders, "since when have young fawns taught the old roebuck the way
+to the forest-glades?" And he strode on without a word more, still in
+the direction I so much abhorred.
+
+Arriving at the cemetery, Père Séguin walked leisurely round it, paying
+as much attention to me as if I had not been with him, and I followed
+like a criminal going to the scaffold. After having made a careful
+examination of the wall, he stopped suddenly, gave me the lantern and
+the spade, and leaped upon the top, desiring me to do the same. I
+hesitated, and fell back, for I felt more inclined to throw them down
+and run away, and Père Séguin saw it.
+
+"Ha! ha!" he exclaimed, fixing his yellow eye upon me. "I thought you
+were heart of oak, young Sir; are you only a man of straw?"
+
+I gave no answer, but I leaped on to the wall like a rope-dancer.
+
+"Hum!" he muttered; "good legs, but a faint heart." And he begun rapidly
+to turn up the rank grass, and pick the large red worms from amongst the
+roots, when, looking up in my face, he said, with infinite coolness,
+"Why, you are as pale as my mother was on the day of her death! What
+ails you?"
+
+"Ails me!" I replied, repressing my fears, "why to tell you the truth,
+I'd just as soon be anywhere else as here."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! young man; one must accustom one's self to everything in
+this world. We must learn--be always learning. Remember, for instance,
+for I'll be bound that you never heard of such a thing before, that
+worms taken in a burial-ground are the finest possible bait for barbel,
+do you hear?--taken by moonlight from the roots of the hemlock."
+
+"Good heavens! Père Séguin, I would rather never catch a fish for the
+rest of my days than touch one of those worms!"
+
+"Nonsense, my lad--nonsense; they are admirable bait--fine fat
+fellows--sure to take. We shall have a wonderful day to-morrow. You will
+soon see how the giants and gourmands of the streams will snap at these
+beauties."
+
+"Hang the barbel, Père Séguin!--let us leave this cold churchyard. I
+feel sick, and a clammy cold creeping over me already--do let us be
+gone;" but he would not move.
+
+"Don't feel unwell, pray don't; it is a well-known fact, that any person
+who feels ill in a churchyard is sure to die within the year."
+
+"Let us leave then, for I do feel very ill;" but the purveyor of worms
+was now too much occupied to listen to me.
+
+Hopeless, therefore, of inducing him to leave till he had filled his
+box, I sat down on a tombstone, and the noise he made with the spade in
+the silence, the darkness, and the peculiar and sickening odour of the
+place, filled me with an indescribable sense of fear and horror.
+
+At length the poacher paused, and having disentangled a very long worm
+from the twisted roots of a large clod, he said, "This makes one hundred
+and thirteen--a holy number. Now I've done, my lad; let us be off."
+
+"Yes--oh, yes!"--for the minutes seemed hours--"let us go instantly;"
+and I sprang from the tombstone, while Père Séguin proceeded
+deliberately to fill up the holes, and replace the turf, whistling
+through his moustache just as if he had been in the middle of his
+garden.
+
+"One hundred and thirteen!--I like that number."
+
+"So do I, Père Séguin; but do let us be going. If we remain here, they
+will think that we have killed and buried some one. Do, pray, be off;"
+and I made for the wall.
+
+"Stop!" he said suddenly, drawing himself up to his full height, six
+feet three, "Stop!" and throwing out his long arms, which made his
+shadow on the stones resemble an immense black cross, "Hold there! Look!
+Do you see that tomb--that large gray stone?"
+
+"I see nothing, Père Séguin, I will see nothing. I close my eyes, and
+only desire to be gone."
+
+"As you please," said the poacher; "but you are wrong. I could have told
+you a curious history--a most interesting history."
+
+"Thanks for your histories--much obliged to you; but I have had enough
+of them." Still Père Séguin would persevere: "A woman, who has appeared
+to me three times--yes, three following days--spoken to me, pulled me by
+the fingers and by the beard eight days after her death."
+
+"Yes! yes! I know; but which way are we to get out of this infernal
+place?"
+
+"Why, what a hurry you are in!--I say stop, and let me say good night to
+her!"--and Père Séguin approached the tall gray stone, the moon shining
+full upon it, and struck it with the handle of his spade, calling each
+time in a solemn voice, "Madeleine! Madeleine! Madeleine!"
+
+Had I been at that frightful moment cut in four quarters, not one drop
+of blood would have been found in my veins; my teeth chattered with
+terror, and I would have given every acre of my inheritance for strength
+enough to run away. "Madeleine! Madeleine!" le Père Séguin continued in
+a low and churchyard tone, "Madeleine!" he cried, leaning on the gray
+tomb, "'tis me, Séguin--le Père Séguin; good night, good night,
+Madeleine!"
+
+I could not speak, I could not move; and certainly had the lady
+whispered only one single little word in reply, I should have fainted.
+
+"Well, it is all over; she is dead for certain now!" said the poacher,
+shaking his head. "Alas! poor Madeleine! Gone in the flower of her age!
+Dead at two-and-twenty, for having offered me a violet! Dead! Let us
+begone."
+
+I beg you to understand I did not put him to the necessity of repeating
+his words, but found my legs in excellent running order in a moment.
+
+"Hold! not so fast!" said my companion, just as I was springing at the
+wall, and thought myself out of danger, "Hold! Down there, my young
+gentleman, in that dark corner amongst the brambles. You see that little
+heap of earth, which one might fancy a dead man alive had pushed up
+with his knees; well, there also is one of my comrades. Ho! halloo,
+Jerome!"
+
+"Père Séguin," said I, "this is unworthy of you; you have no right thus
+to mock at and disturb the dead; you only want to torment me; and I have
+already told you, and I repeat it, I feel exceedingly ill."
+
+"Come, come along then--let us go. I shall return here presently to
+sleep. Good night, Madeleine!--good night, Jerome!--good night, all of
+you who are sleeping so quietly under the green turf!"--and it seemed to
+me, as these adieus were uttered, that icy breezes passed from every
+tomb across my face, whispering in my ears, "Good night!" and that the
+firs, the yews, the cypress bending across our path seemed to salute us
+as we left the horrible precincts.
+
+We soon regained the town, and on the road there I would not have turned
+my head for a crown of rubies; Père Séguin, meanwhile, coolly carrying
+his box of worms, which I would not have touched for the best place in
+Paradise.
+
+The next morning, instead of fishing for barbel, I was unable to rise
+from my bed; and for fifteen nights I never closed my eyes without
+seeing in my dreams ghosts, and all the horrid details of the churchyard
+and the charnel-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     Passage of the woodcock in November--Their laziness--Night
+     travelling--Mode of snaring them at night--Numbers taken in this
+     way--This sport adapted rather for the poacher--The _braconnier_ of
+     Le Morvan--His mode of life--The poacher's dog--The double poacher.
+
+
+The object of this chapter will be to give the reader some little
+insight into the habits of the woodcock, and the mode of snaring them in
+the forests of Le Morvan, during the month of November. At the close of
+this month, Dame Nature's barometer, their instinct, far better than the
+quicksilver, tells them the December rains are close at hand; and that
+if they remain in their hiding-places in the low grounds, they will be
+driven out by the approaching deluge. They at length make up their minds
+to set forth on their travels. With a long-drawn sigh, therefore, the
+woodcock bids farewell to the old oaks that have sheltered it all the
+summer, and taking leave of its friendly comrades, the squirrels, it
+sets out on the first fine night for a more genial climate, to the
+delight, no doubt, of the neighbouring worms, who pop their heads out of
+window to witness its departure; and the moment their enemy is fairly
+out of sight, perform many a pirouette on the tip of their tails, and
+dance upon the grass in honour of the joyous event.
+
+If a woodcock was not a woodcock, that is, one of the laziest birds in
+the creation, it might easily reach, in a few days' flight, the dry
+heaths, the hills, and elevated regions, which it loves; but woodcocks
+abhor all violent exercise, always preferring the use of their feet to
+that of their wings, which latter they never agitate, except when
+necessity requires. Well, they have now set out, and after marching all
+night by slow and easy stages, when morning comes our woodcocks make a
+halt wherever they happen to be, breakfast as best they may, and then
+ensconce themselves in some snug spot, where they doze the livelong day,
+till, refreshed by their twelve hours' rest, they set off again with
+renewed strength the moment the sun has gone down.
+
+Thus it is that during the middle of November there is no regular
+flight, but a kind of circulation, of woodcocks, perambulating from the
+lower to the higher regions, and the _gourmet_ and the sportsman fail
+not to stop them on their way.
+
+As it is necessary in this kind of _chasse_ to spend the night under the
+trees and on the damp moss, those who wish to enjoy it prepare for it
+accordingly by dressing themselves like Navarre, in a suit of
+sheepskins, and lay in a good store of cold meat and brandy.
+
+During their nocturnal peregrinations, instinct leads the woodcock to
+follow ascending roads and open pathways, especially such as are
+completely exposed to the mild winds of the south and south-east only;
+they avoid walking through the woods, where the road is encumbered with
+brambles and other obstacles, which would oblige them to hop or fly far
+oftener than they like, occasionally leaving a portion of their feathers
+behind them. Moreover, their feet are tender, and they in consequence
+prefer the paths that are overgrown with grass, the open glades, or
+roads cut through the moss.
+
+It is now that the sportsman who is well versed in the private history
+of the woodcock prepares his snares; for at this period of the year it
+is by them that they are taken.
+
+Penetrating, therefore, the depths of the forest, the experienced
+_chasseur_ soon discovers, in some secluded spot, a path well carpeted
+with verdure, lighted by a few stray moonbeams and sheltered from the
+wind, where he forthwith begins to lay his snares. Should the path be
+broad, he proceeds to contract it, strewing it partially with stones,
+brambles, and thorns; he likewise cuts down some twigs and branches, and
+sticks them into the ground at intervals, so as to present as many
+impediments and _chevaux de frise_ as he can to thwart the progress of
+the lazy bird. The middle of the path should be left quite free, and
+wide enough to allow a couple of woodcocks to walk abreast. Into this
+narrow passage they all walk without suspicion, and their further
+progress is prevented by their falling into the trap which is laid to
+receive them.
+
+This snare is placed across a hole about the size of a crown piece, and
+consists of a strong noose made of horsehair, which is fixed to a peg,
+and so arranged that the slightest touch causes it to rebound and catch
+them by the leg.
+
+In the hole is laid a fine, fat, red worm, healthy and tempting, and, in
+order to prevent the poor prisoner's escaping, the sportsman has devised
+a method of keeping him down in spite of himself, by pinning him to the
+ground at one end with a long thorn--it is presumed worms do not feel;
+his miserable contortions attract the attention of the hungry woodcock,
+who immediately seizes this irresistible tit-bit.
+
+Every preparation completed and the snare baited, the hole, the worm,
+and the noose are carefully covered over by a withered leaf--a second
+snare, similarly concealed, is set on the right, a third in the middle,
+and so on at a distance of three or four feet from each other. All is
+now in readiness, and twilight finds the sportsman covered up in his
+skins at some fifty paces from his traps. Here, after having comforted
+his inward man, and sharpened his sight by swallowing two or three
+glasses of cognac, addressing between them an invocation to his patron
+saint, he listens and waits.
+
+On come the long-bills, looking right and left, pecking the ground,
+peering at the moon and the stars, and eating all they can find in their
+way. They now approach the dangerous defile, and some of the younger
+ones fly over the traps; others, more prudent, turn back; but the main
+body hold a council of war, when the staff officers having decided that
+these Thermopylæ must be passed, first one woodcock and then another
+taking heart proceeds, and the sportsman hugs himself in his success on
+perceiving the whole troop making towards the baits he has spread for
+them. Before long one of the birds gets its leg entangled, totters,
+falls, rises again, but in doing so is made fast by the noose, and in
+spite of its efforts is unable to advance a step further. Another,
+hearing the sound of a worm struggling at the bottom of a hole, darts
+in its beak, with the charitable intention of ending the prisoner's
+sufferings, and on raising its head is suddenly seized by the neck. The
+sportsman now steals softly from his hiding-place, and, stooping down,
+smashes the woodcock's brain with his thumb nail, and so on with the
+next, after which he retreats to his post, and keeps up the game till
+dawn. Some persons will in this manner catch from twenty to thirty
+woodcocks in a single night; but they must be favourably placed, have a
+great number of snares, and, moreover, possess a considerable degree of
+skill, and tread lightly, (for the most important point, in this sport,
+is to make as little noise as possible,) and be very quick at putting
+the snares in order the moment they have been used--no easy work, in
+good sooth, seeing that it must be performed by an occasional ray of
+moonlight.
+
+If late on the ground, and you have not sufficient time to obstruct and
+barricade the road as directed above, the earth may be turned up in the
+middle of the path and the snares placed across it; the woodcocks, in
+the hope of finding something to eat, will immediately walk on to
+it--but although this method occasionally succeeds it is far from being
+as good as the first, for the soil does not offer the same resistance
+as the turf, the holes get filled up, and the birds escape more easily.
+
+The sportsman should mind and bag his game as fast as it is snared, or
+master Reynard, who has been watching the whole affair, will pounce upon
+his birds and carry them off, with a dozen nooses into the bargain.
+
+Poachers reap an ample harvest of cash by this mode of taking woodcocks,
+while other sportsmen generally reap the rheumatism; and, truth to say,
+the silence and immobility that must be observed all night long, the
+intense cold, and the damp fogs which cover the forest in the early
+morning, are not very agreeable, and most gentlemen prefer staying at
+home, enjoying the innocent diversion of playing the flute, quarrelling
+with their wives, or emptying the bottle.
+
+To succeed well in snaring woodcocks requires both skill and experience,
+and a thorough knowledge of the woods, the winds, the colour of the
+clouds, the age of the moon, the state of the atmosphere; and, in fact,
+short of being a poacher or a conjuror, how is it possible to know that
+the woodcocks will pass one spot rather than another in a space of
+several score of square miles, and amongst so many and such intricate
+paths. The _braconnier_ alone is infallible on these points, and curious
+specimens of the human biped are these same poachers!
+
+In the first place it must not be imagined that the poachers of Le
+Morvan bear the slightest resemblance to those of England. They are as
+much alike as Thames water and Burgundy wine. The English poacher is a
+rank vagabond, who invades every one's game-preserves at dead of night,
+and kills whatever he finds, whether hares, partridges, dogs, pheasants,
+or gamekeepers,--while ours are men following a legitimate occupation.
+
+In Le Morvan, forests are open to all; there are no palings to get over,
+and no keepers to fear; the public may hunt, shoot, or snare what they
+please.
+
+The poacher commences his hard apprenticeship in early childhood. Nature
+directs him to adopt this course of life, and endows him with a bold
+heart, a cool head, a sinewy frame, and an iron constitution. The
+incipient poachers soon leave the inhabited districts to live in the
+forests, with trees for their roof, and moss for their bed. They study
+alike the woods and the stars, and know the forest by heart, with its
+roads and glades, beaten tracks and untrodden paths. From sunrise to
+sunset they are always-a-foot, walking through the thickets, tramping
+over heaths, or stooping amongst the brushwood, listening, and looking
+everywhere, and by night and by day constantly making their observations
+on the direction of the wind, the habits of the animals that pass them,
+or the birds that fly over their heads.
+
+In this way they ferret out every nook and every winding in the forest,
+and now here and now there build themselves a hut, live upon fruit,
+chestnuts, and their game, which they roast upon embers; and never come
+into a town except to purchase powder, shot and ball, or perhaps a pair
+of shoes, some tobacco, and brandy.
+
+Such is the rough life of the youthful poacher, nor has he any companion
+during this wild period of his existence, excepting a dog, the faithful
+partner of his joys and dangers, and who becomes a devoted friend and
+brother for life. They live together, talk to each other, understand
+each other, and guess each other's slightest wish. I have seen a poacher
+talking to his dog by the hour together, the man laughing fit to split
+at what his canine companion was telling him in his own peculiar way,
+while the dog, rolling on the grass, barked with delight at what his
+master answered.
+
+When on their shooting expeditions, a sign from his master, a nod, a
+wink, an uplifted finger, or the slightest whisper, are either of them
+sufficient for his guidance; he stops, or dashes onward, takes a leap,
+or crouches down, as the case may be, and never is he known to be at
+fault.
+
+On his part the poacher has only to refer to his dog as to the pages of
+a book, and he reads at once in his slightest movements what is in the
+wind, what bird lies hidden in the grass, or what beast is cowering in
+the thicket. By the position of his head, the manner in which he
+scratches the ground, pricks his ear, or carries his tail, he
+understands as plainly as if he spoke whether he announces the proximity
+of a wolf, a partridge, a woodcock, a roebuck, a hare, or a rabbit.
+
+I have known poachers who have told me half an hour beforehand what we
+were going to meet. Another would bid his dog bring him a leaf, a
+branch, a flower, or a mushroom, and off he went, sought, found, and
+brought back the identical article required. "Now, sing," said the
+poacher, and the dog began to sing; not, indeed, exactly like Mario, but
+he produced a kind of melodious growl, a sort of improvised musical
+lament over his solitary life, which had its charm. Most poachers are
+exceedingly fond of music, and as they are always singing in their
+leisure moments, of course their dog joins them; so that when they are
+both in the humour for it, they execute duets in the depths of the
+forest that make the very nightingales jealous.
+
+By the time a poacher has acquired a complete knowledge of wood-craft,
+and that he knows familiarly every path and every bush in the forest,
+every hole and every stone in the mountains, together with the habits,
+character, and favourite haunts of every species of game; has made a
+reputation, and put by some money; that he is beginning to turn gray,
+and is verging on forty, his fondness for this savage kind of life
+begins to diminish, his rough exterior becomes somewhat softened, he
+purchases a solitary little cottage in some secluded spot, comes oftener
+into town, and occasionally partakes of its pleasures.
+
+In poaching, as in everything else, there are varieties of taste, and
+degrees of superiority. Some fish, others hunt only the roebuck and the
+boar, others shoot squirrels and wild cats, others again excel in
+snaring woodcocks, while some are dead hands at scenting and tracking a
+wolf. Each poacher has his peculiar line, and each line furnishes a
+livelihood.
+
+But when it happens, once in a way, that there is a man who unites a
+profound knowledge of the forest to an equally profound knowledge of the
+waters--who hunts, tracks, and shoots all sorts of game with equal
+success, and is also an expert fisherman, then he is a superior man of
+his kind, complete at all points, a sort of Napoleon in his way, and his
+countrymen bestow on him the title of the "double poacher,"--for thus
+was called my worthy friend Le Père Séguin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     The woodcock--Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan--Aversion of
+     dogs to this bird--Timidity of the woodcock--Its cunning--Shooting
+     in November--The Woodcock mates--The Woodcock fly.
+
+
+In the last and preceding chapters, the imaginative and romantic have
+predominated almost to the entire exclusion of any description of the
+wild sports of Le Morvan, and I fear that the sporting reader, not
+generally of a very sentimental taste, will ere this have become
+impatient, and perhaps a little angry at the delay. I trust, however,
+that I may be able to soften his indignation, and by the following
+sketches gratify the expectations naturally raised in his mind by the
+first words of the title-page. Of boar and wolf-hunting we shall speak
+further on: my present object will be to give a description, not only of
+the woodcock-shooting in Burgundy and Le Morvan, but also of the habits,
+etc., of that bird.
+
+In the forests of which we are writing, the woodcock is not a mere bird
+of passage, as in other European countries; it does not fly beyond sea,
+like the swallow and most of the emigrating feathered tribes, nor does
+it disappear like the quail, at a fixed period, and reappear at a given
+moment. Here the woodcock seldom if ever deserts the forests which have
+been its constant abode, and the sportsman is sure to find it nearly all
+the year round. I have said nearly, for though not seeking other climes,
+it requires a change of locality to secure a certain temperature.
+
+For instance, in the months of May, June, July, and August, woodcocks
+are to be found in elevated spots, such as mountains covered with large
+trees, or in warm open places on their slopes. At the first approach of
+cold weather they leave the hills, and come down into the plains,
+concealing themselves in the underwood, or the fern, or in the high
+grass, when the snow begins to fall. The woodcock is a melancholy bird,
+and somewhat misanthropic. Its habits are eminently anti-social; it
+flies but little, so little indeed that its wings seem scarcely of any
+use, and with the laziness already alluded to that forms its
+characteristic feature, it seeks out a solitary spot, and having dug a
+hole amongst the dry leaves, there it will squat for days together
+without stirring. It likewise delights to cower under the gnarled roots
+of an old oak, or to hide itself in a holly-bush, and apparently derives
+so much satisfaction from its own meditations, and seems to hold all
+other birds of the forest in such utter contempt, that it never by any
+chance deigns to join their sports, or mingle in their joyous songs. The
+woodcock seeks the darkest and most silent thickets, and likes a marly
+soil, damp meadows, and the neighbourhood of brooks and stagnant water.
+
+But though motionless and torpid, so long as the sun is above the
+horizon, woodcocks are always on the alert, and wake and shake their
+feathers the moment night comes; leaving the shady thickets and grassy
+spots, they flock to the glades and little paths of the woods, and
+thrust their long beaks into the soft, damp soil--for this bird, be it
+remembered, never touches either corn or fruit, but lives entirely upon
+grubs and earth-worms.
+
+It naturally follows that the woodcock, which finds its food in slimy
+marshes, with head bent, and eyes fixed upon the ground, possesses none
+of the gaiety and vivacity of other birds, holds but a very low place in
+the scale of animal intelligence, and possesses a large share of that
+stupidity peculiar to the dull species that were formed to live in the
+mire.
+
+The size of the woodcock varies exceedingly; they are much smaller than
+the domestic fowl, but heavier and larger than the heath partridge; yet
+there are some which are as small as a wood-pigeon, and even less. Their
+plumage is dark, and harmonizes admirably with the trunks of the trees
+and moss amongst which they dwell. Even in the daylight, and at a
+distance of only twenty paces, it is impossible to distinguish a
+woodcock, as it lies motionless, with closed wings, and neck extended on
+the ground, amongst the withered leaves.
+
+When walking on the grass, there is a certain elegance in its movements,
+while the beautiful _chiar' oscuro_ tints of its wings, the gray and
+orange hues on its breast, its long black legs streaked with pink, its
+large beak, small head, and symmetrical proportions, combine to render
+it a bird of no ordinary beauty. Though its eyes are piercing and very
+open, the woodcock only sees distinctly at twilight, and its flight is
+never so even or so rapid, nor its motions so brisk, or its gait so
+regular, as at nightfall or at dawn of day.
+
+The flesh is black, firm, and of a game flavour, and, with the wise, is
+a most dainty morsel, a royal tit-bit. But dogs think differently, and
+have such an aversion to its smell, that they hunt, seize, and bring it
+back much against their will; and, difficult as it may be to account
+for this antipathy, it seems to be as inherent in canine nature, as the
+antipathy which all ladies show to contradiction is in the human.
+
+Far removed from the strife that occasionally rages amidst the feathered
+tribes of the forest, or the more formidable struggles of its
+four-footed inhabitants, whose howls occasionally startle the silence of
+night, and quite indifferent as to whether a fox or a wolf is seated on
+the sylvan throne, the woodcock, like a true philosopher, in the depths
+of the thicket, leads a calm and sedentary life, requiring no other
+elements of happiness than moonlight, rest, and a few worms. Its tastes
+are so humble, its wants so few; it mixes so little with the world, and
+is so ignorant of all intrigue, that nothing can exceed its innocence.
+Like those honest country-folks who can never manage to shake off their
+native simplicity, its instinct never puts it on its guard against a
+snare, and consequently it falls into the first that is set for it.
+
+A complete stranger to the fierce emotions that excite the savage nature
+of those animals that live constantly at war with one another, the
+peaceful woodcock--the bird of twilight--is startled by the least noise,
+and stunned by the slightest accident. Many a time, at dawn of day, when
+lying in wait for the passage of a fox, a roebuck, or a wolf, have I
+seen two, three, four, even five woodcocks slowly issue from their leafy
+covert, and advance with measured step towards the open glade,
+apparently without imagining that by leaving the shade of the trees they
+were exposing themselves to being seen. On they walked, searching by the
+way, plunging from time to time their long beaks into the grass, and
+shaking their heads right and left to enlarge the hole, they breakfasted
+luxuriously on the worms that crept out of it.
+
+Concealed behind an oak-tree, I have sometimes been highly amused by
+watching their motions, nor had I the least wish to disturb them, not
+caring to rouse the echoes of the forest for such insignificant game. So
+the woodcocks went on with their manoeuvres, holding down their heads,
+with eyes intent upon the grass, evidently engrossed by their own
+occupation. In this manner they unconsciously advanced close to me, when
+suddenly rising from the ground I gave a loud shout, at which the
+startled birds were so panic-struck that they literally fell down, and
+fluttering their wings, without having the power to fly, looked at me
+with rolling eye-balls, while their beaks opened as if to call for help,
+emitting nothing but inarticulate sounds, that seemed so many prayers
+for mercy. Somewhat relieved of their worst fears, on perceiving that I
+had no evil intentions, they rushed away head over heels, and sought
+refuge under their favourite roots. The recollection of this scene,
+which only lasted seven or eight seconds, has often made me laugh.
+
+Yet notwithstanding this general want of presence of mind, the woodcock
+displays some cunning in extreme danger,--such as when the shot is
+whistling past its feathers, or when the hawk is wheeling about in the
+air above its head; its faculties then seem to awaken, its blood
+circulates more freely, a spark of intelligence seems to flash across
+its usually obtuse brain, and the magnitude of the peril suggests an
+excellent means of escaping from its enemies. During the daytime, for
+instance, when, snugly ensconced in its hole, and with its ear close to
+the ground, the woodcock hears you approach from afar, instead of rising
+and taking refuge amongst the trunks of the surrounding trees, it first
+reflects solemnly whether it is worth while to disturb itself for so
+slight a noise, and quit its leafy bed, where it lies so warm and
+comfortable. After all, it may be only a hare running past--or perhaps a
+roebuck grazing in the neighbourhood--so the woodcock waits, then
+listens, then stands up and begins to move; on hearing your thick shoes
+trampling the withered branches, it stands motionless, not daring to
+stir, nor can it make up its mind to fly until it feels the breath of
+your dog. Then it rises rapidly enough.
+
+It flies straight, but its flight is not even, and at the distance of
+about fifty paces, and just as you are going to fire, the woodcock, well
+aware that the sportsman's eye is upon it, and shrewdly guessing that
+thunder and lightning is about to follow, changes his tactics, and
+lowering its flight, so as to avoid the mortal aim, suddenly plunges
+down behind a bush. The sportsman, who, not aware of this specious
+manoeuvre, fires at this juncture, thinks the bird has fallen dead,
+and forthwith runs to pick it up, but no woodcock can he find; for on
+raising his eyes, lo! and behold, he sees the provoking bird some five
+hundred paces distant, cleaving the air with sails full set; and as his
+eyes follow it still further, he perceives it flying with all its might,
+ever and anon prudently ducking down to avoid the second barrel.
+
+This is one of the woodcock's best stratagems, and it succeeds ten times
+out of twelve, at least with the tyros among sportsmen.
+
+When fairly tired by its flight, the woodcock drops into the underwood,
+and is then completely lost to the sportsman; for, once on the ground,
+it runs with the greatest celerity, its wings working rapidly like a
+couple of paddles, and vanishing beneath the leaves, falls fainting into
+some snug corner.
+
+In Brittany and in Lower Normandy this ornament of the table and delight
+of the sportsman is found in great numbers at a certain season of the
+year. In Picardy, and in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, I have sometimes
+knocked over as many as twenty woodcocks in one day, while on the morrow
+and the day following I could not flush three. Such is not the case in
+Le Morvan, where they are, as we have before remarked, to be found all
+the year round; the proper seasons, however, for shooting them are
+three. These are, the month of November, before the rains set in; the
+month of April, when they mate; and the sultry months of June and July;
+the period of drought and of the dog-days. In the interim of these
+epochs they are allowed to enjoy themselves, and suffered to fatten
+quietly in their dark thickets. I shall, therefore, only notice these
+three periods.
+
+In foggy or cloudy nights, when the branches of the trees are dripping
+wet, the woodcock, ensconced in its hole, feels no hunger, moves not,
+and would not venture abroad for love or money; but should the sky
+prove clear, and the moon shine forth, lighting up the forest paths, the
+delighted bird steals from its dwelling, shakes its feathers, and
+sallies forth on its adventures. For the woodcock, like poets and
+lovers, is fond of the moonlight and the sweet perfumes of evening.
+Hence it is that sportsmen in France call the full moon of November "the
+woodcock's moon," and they hail its appearance with as much rejoicing as
+do the foxes, wild cats, and poachers, all of whom make sad havoc
+amongst the long-beaked tribe during this fatal period.
+
+The woodcock has been described as an idle, heavy, timid, and stupid
+bird, which passes the greater portion of the day in lethargic slumbers,
+in gazing at the south, at the growing grass, or the falling leaves;
+rejoicing only in silence and solitude; and such is the case during nine
+months of the year. In the spring, however, it is quite otherwise; the
+woodcock then mates, and, ere April showers have passed away, becomes
+animated, sociable, and full of life; and, more extraordinary still, its
+voice, till then mute, may actually be heard.
+
+Yes, at this delightful season the woodcock is no longer silent, its
+tongue is loosened, it breathes its tale of love, and, with joyful
+notes, proclaims its happiness morning and night; and yet there are
+those who would make us believe that the tender passion is useless, that
+love is tom-foolery, or that it does not exist. To these blind
+blasphemers, who thus deny its power, I would respectfully say, Come to
+Le Morvan, and observe the woodcock, and then dare to say that love is
+an untruth. Why, love is the great magician of the universe, the sun of
+our minds, a path of fragrant violets, a perfect copse of _millefleurs_,
+before which we all bend our hearts, aye, and, with vastly few
+exceptions, our heads too. Yes, we all, at some period of our lives,
+taste the delicious draught, and some drink deep of it, either to their
+life-long happiness or the reverse. Love effects many a miracle, changes
+everything, bows the neck of the proud, opens the eyes of the blind, and
+shuts them for those who have very good sight; teaches the dumb to
+speak, and those who are very loquacious to be silent. When the rosy and
+naked little boy makes his appearance with his quiver, all is joy and
+unreflecting happiness; when he is at home with his mamma, alas! the
+world is all in shadow. The woodcocks, in like manner, are amiable,
+eloquent, and engaging as long as the fumes of love affect their brain;
+but when these are dissipated, they are dumb, and ten times more stupid
+than they were before; and, dear me, how many human woodcocks, robed in
+satin and balzarine, or sheathed in kerseymere trousers, are the same.
+
+But, shades of Buffon and Linnæus! we must not thus rattle on, but
+proceed to describe the nuptial couch of the delicious bird under our
+consideration. The woodcock, like all those of the feathered tribe that
+do not perch, makes its nest on the ground, which is composed of leaves,
+fern, and dry grass, intermixed with little bits of stick, and
+strengthened by larger pieces placed across it. This nest, made without
+much art or care, in form like a large brown ball, is generally placed
+under, and sheltered by the root of some old tree. Four or five eggs, a
+little larger than those of the common pigeon, of a dirty gray and
+yellow colour, and marked with little black spots, are the proofs of its
+maternity. The woodcock, as I have before remarked, has only the gift of
+talking in the spring season, when soft breezes fan the air, and they
+educate their young. Nevertheless, it is in this season that
+woodcock-shooting is the most amusing. Then is the time for gentlemen to
+shoot; the _braconnier_ despises it. From the middle of April to that of
+May is the important epoch at which the generality of animals marry,
+and the woodcocks are not behindhand in this respect; they leave their
+well-concealed retreats, become humanized, solicit the attentions of
+their feathered ladies, and fly with gay inspirations amongst the
+neighbouring bushes. But though as much in love as a widow, the woodcock
+does not on that account forget its habitual prudence; like the usurer
+who lends his money, and takes every precaution, the woodcock is equally
+careful, and does not leave its nest till twilight has draped the earth
+in the gray mantle of evening. When the humid atmosphere descends slowly
+on the trees, when the cool breezes of night ascend the valleys, when
+distant objects begin to assume a fantastic shape, when the branches of
+the oak near you, like the arms of a giant, wave to and fro, and seem to
+ask you to approach; when the withered tree, devoid of leaves, looks
+like a brigand on the watch, or your comrade, ensconced against it,
+seems to form a portion of it at a hundred yards off; when, in short,
+the sportsman can see only a few yards before him, then is the moment
+that the circumspect and wily woodcock leaves its abode, and pays a
+nocturnal visit to his friends; and man, his enemy, and still more
+cunning, is on the alert. The sport which we are about to describe, and
+which does not last longer than from thirty to forty minutes, has
+something particularly taking in it. At the close of day a universal
+silence reigns in the forest, and every sportsman is at his post with
+bated breath, and eyes dilated as wide as a woman's listening to a
+neighbouring gossip's tale, when, all at once--pray note this well,
+reader--a little fly, which plays a prominent part in all sport _à
+l'affût_ (in ambush)--a little fly, about the size of a pea, regularly
+makes its appearance, and wheeling round your head, fidgets you for five
+minutes with its buzzing b-r-r-r-r-r-r-oo. In this way the little insect
+informs you the woodcocks have left the underwood, that they are
+approaching, and that it hears them coming; and odd or marvellous as it
+may seem, this signal of the little fly, which never misleads you--this
+signal which falls upon your ear just at the proper and precise moment,
+is as certain as that two and two make four. Be not sceptical, and
+imagine that this is chance; no such thing. Go when you will to the
+_chasse à l'affût_, station yourself in whichever part of the forest you
+like, be assured the fly will be there; it was never otherwise. The
+question is, who sends the fly? how does it know the sportsman? and by
+what mysterious chronometer does it regulate with such exactness its
+movements? _Chi lo sa?_ He who doth not let a sparrow fall to the ground
+without He willeth it. Equally incomprehensible is the departure of this
+little insect, which, the concert over, and when you are thoroughly on
+the _qui vive_, ceases its buzz, and is heard no more. At this very
+moment, the silence in which you have till then remained is suddenly
+broken by shouts of "They come! they come!" quickly followed by bang,
+bang, bang along the glade; and here indeed they are, at first by twos
+and threes, and then a compact flight, whirling along with appealing
+cries of love, fluttering, and flapping their wings, and pursuing one
+another from bush to bush. They show now neither fear nor
+circumspection, and crazy, blind, and deaf, scarcely seem to notice the
+noise, the flashes, or the cries of the sportsmen. At length all is in
+complete confusion. They toss and twirl about like great leaves in a
+hurricane, and finally fly, with their ranks somewhat diminished, to
+their several homes. This sport lasts but a short half-hour; after
+which, the woodcocks having said all they had to say, made and accepted
+their engagements for the following day, vanish as if by magic, like the
+puff of a cigar, a shadow, or a royal promise, and the same silence that
+preceded their arrival reigns once more in the forest. No gun is loaded
+after their departure; the sportsmen assemble, count the dead, never so
+numerous, as one might suppose, and having bagged them, also retire from
+the scene. I have known one person kill four couple of woodcocks in this
+manner, but it was quite an exceptional case; two or three is nearer the
+usual number. Chance, as in war, in marriage, in everything, is
+frequently the secret of success; but if you are not cool and collected,
+and handy with your gun, you will scarce carry a _salmi_ home to your
+expectant friends. To the young sportsman, the novelty, confusion, and
+hubbub of these evening shooting-parties are perfectly bewildering;
+Parisian cockneys, above all, are quite beside themselves, shutting
+first one eye and then the other, firing, of course, without having
+taken any aim, and eventually beating a retreat without a feather in
+their game-bags. But to the veteran, this fevered half-hour, this brief
+_chasse_, is most delightful; everything conspires to make it lively and
+exciting. The party, ten or twelve jolly dogs, have generally dined
+together, and the onslaught over, they all return by the pale moonlight,
+shoulder to shoulder, singing snatches of some old hunting-song, the
+stars overhead and the woodcocks on their backs. A young Parisian and
+college friend of mine, Adolphe Gustave de----, very rich and very
+witty, whom, after many unsuccessful attempts, I induced to leave the
+capital, and pass six months with me in the deserts, as he called them,
+of Le Morvan, loved this species of sport intensely, though he never
+shot anything. His bag, however, was always better filled than that of
+any of his comrades, for though a wretched shot, he had the wit to stand
+near a good one, and as he was wonderfully quick with his legs, eyes,
+and fingers, he was constantly picking up his neighbour's birds, vowing
+all the time they were his own shooting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+     Fine names--Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages--Gustavus Adolphus!
+     no hero!--The Parisian Sportsman--Partridge-shooting
+     despicable--Wild boar-hunting--Rousing the grisly monster--His
+     approach--The post of honour--Good nerves--The death--The trophy
+     and congratulations.
+
+
+Few persons well acquainted with France can have failed to observe how
+fond the lower orders, indeed all classes, are of giving high-sounding
+names to their children; and it is sometimes truly amusing to notice the
+strange upset of associations which in consequence jar the auricular
+nerve, and illustrate the singularly exalted notions of the godfathers
+and godmothers. "Gustave Adolphe!" I once heard an old cook vociferate
+from the kitchen of a small inn to a boy in the yard. "Gustave Adolphe!"
+shrieked the aged heroine of the sauce-pans, pitching her voice in A
+alto, "_Coupez donc les choux!_" Cutting cabbages! What an antithesis to
+the glorious victor of Lutzen. The remark will apply with equal force to
+the Gustave Adolphe of the last chapter, though on a different point,
+and the contrast between the great Gustavus and he of Paris, was most
+diverting. My accomplished friend, a charming dancer, a _beau parleur_,
+a first-rate singer, who made sad havoc among the fresh and fair
+gazelles of every ballroom, this tremendous _chasseur-de-salon_, I very
+soon perceived, was by no means so tremendous in the stubbles;--a covey
+fairly startled him, and if a hare rose between his legs he turned quite
+pale.
+
+"My good fellow," I said to him one day, seeing his extraordinary
+trepidation, "if you are so staggered by a covey of partridges, what in
+the world will you do when I set you face to face with a wolf or a wild
+boar?"
+
+"Oh! that is a very different affair. A wolf or a wild boar? Why, I
+should kill one and eat the other, of course."
+
+"Not so easy," I should think, "for a novice like you."
+
+"Novice, indeed! me a novice. Oh! you are quite in error. The fact is,
+these devils of birds and rabbits lie hidden, do you see, under the
+grass like frogs, one never knows where; so that I never see them till
+they are all but in my eyes, or cutting capers like Taglioni's under my
+feet, and your dogs putting out their tongues, and staring at me."
+
+"Why, of course they do; the intelligent brutes are ready to expire at
+your awkwardness."
+
+"Much obliged to you for the compliment. Again, you say, they turn their
+tails to the right by way of telling me that I am to go to the left; and
+to the left, when I am to walk to the right. Who, I ask you, is to
+understand such telegraphs as these? I have not yet learned how to
+converse with dogs' tails--intelligence, indeed! I believe it is all
+humbug; for, when my whole soul is absorbed in watching the tips of
+these very tails, a crowd of partridges jump up just in front of me,
+making as much noise as if they were drummers beating the retreat. If I
+am hurried and stupefied"....
+
+"And if," I added, "you are much disposed to throw down your gun as to
+fire it."
+
+"Well! supposing I am; what is the wonder? 'Tis no fault of mine--I am
+not used to partridge-shooting! I am not a wild man of the woods, like
+you! I did not cut my teeth gnawing a cartridge, as you did!"
+
+"Come, come! don't be affronted."
+
+"Affronted? No; but you have no consideration. You're a Robin Hood, an
+exterminator! if you look at one partridge, you kill four! You sleep
+with your rifle, turn your game-bag into a nightcap, and shave with a
+_couteau-de-chasse_!"
+
+"May be so! but let us have the fact."
+
+"The fact! Then I hate your long-tailed dogs, and your detestable
+flights of noisy birds! Let me have them one by one, like larks in the
+plain of St. Denis, and I'll soon clear the province for you."
+
+"Upon my word, Adolphe, we should have something to thank you for!"
+
+"I tell you what, Henri; those partridges, after all, are trumpery
+things to kill. 'Tis mere hurry that prevents my hitting them. Don't
+imagine I am frightened! If you wish to give me real pleasure, let us go
+to India and shoot a lion or a tiger;--give me a chance with an
+elephant!"
+
+"Willingly; but allow me to suggest, that if we set out for India, we
+shall not get back in time for dinner."
+
+"We will keep in Europe, then; but, at least, show me some game worthy
+of me. A serpent--I will cut him in two at a stroke. A bull--I will soon
+send a brace of balls into him."
+
+"Well done! just like a Parisian."
+
+"Parisian! Pray what do you mean by that?"
+
+"A boaster, if you prefer the word."
+
+"Ha! ha! a boaster, indeed! Do you mean to say that I'm afraid of a
+bull?"
+
+"Of course not. However, as there are no bulls here, I will send the
+head _piqueur_ upon the track of a wild boar which was seen near the
+chateau last night; he will exactly suit you. I consider him as doomed."
+
+"Thank you, Henri; thank you; the moment I am fairly in front of him, I
+shall fire at his eyes, and no doubt lodge both balls in them. Poor
+Belisarius! how he will charge me in his agony! but I shall retire,
+reload, and then, having drawn my hunting-knife, dispatch him without
+further ceremony."
+
+"Never fear, you shall have the post of honour; and if you do not turn
+upon your heel, why, my dear friend, you will rise at least a dozen pegs
+in my estimation."
+
+"Turn on my heel! you little know me; and then, what a sensation I shall
+create in Paris with my boar's skin. I'll have it stuffed, gild his
+tusks, and silver-mount his hoofs. I shall be quite the hero of the
+_salons_."
+
+That very afternoon orders were given to the head-keeper to send the
+_traqueurs_ into the forest on the following day, and on their return,
+they announced that not only traces of wild boar had been met with, but
+one had actually been seen. Great were the preparations and cleaning of
+rifles and _couteaux-de-chasse_ when this intelligence was received;
+but, in spite of his assumed composure, Adolphe's ardour seemed
+considerably to diminish, and the conversation that evening over the
+fire was not calculated to inspire him with fresh courage.
+
+"How very soon they find the boar!" said he to me. "Tell me how the
+affair commences."
+
+"Why these _traqueurs_ are not long in discovering him. They know
+exactly where to look for one, for they study their habits; the traces
+of the grisly rascal are seen by them immediately; they mark his
+favourite paths, the thickets he prefers, the marshy ground in which he
+delights to wallow, and then as to the times he is likely to be seen,
+they can tell almost to a minute when he will pass,--for the wild boar
+is very methodical, and an excellent time-piece. The animal, therefore,
+having been traced, and his retreat carefully ascertained, a day is
+fixed, and each person having been assigned a separate post, remains
+watching for his appearance on his way to or from his haunt."
+
+"Oh! of course, they merely watch and wait," replied Adolphe, with a
+hollow, unmeaning laugh.
+
+"Yes; but you don't suppose that a boar will allow himself to be killed
+as easily as a squirrel. I fear, in spite of all your professions, you
+will find it not so agreeable a sport as shooting larks on the plain of
+St. Denis. The bristly fellow who comes trotting and grunting towards
+you, showing his teeth, stopping occasionally to sharpen them against
+the root of some old oak, is not generally in the best of humours; but
+you can, at any rate, reckon upon the great advantage,--the want of
+which you deprecate in partridge-shooting. For instance, you cannot fail
+to see him; you have notice of his coming; you are not taken off your
+guard, and they very seldom appear but one at a time. It is a combat
+face to face, and his, with two long prominent teeth, so unfortunate in
+a woman, and positively hideous in a boar, effectually warns you that it
+is well you should be prepared to receive him. But the excitement is
+grand; after the volley every one is at him with his knife, and, with
+the exception of a few inexperienced dogs, and a Parisian novice like
+yourself, who, of course, are occasionally put _hors de combat_, the
+affair ends gloriously. Yes, yes, I am beginning to think you are
+right, Adolphe; partridge-shooting and knocking over a timid hare is
+very cowardly sport."
+
+The _traqueurs_ also, whom Adolphe catechised, in the hope of preserving
+his own skin entire at the same time, though they gave him all sorts of
+good advice, failed not to add to it, as people of their class generally
+do, a budget of most fearful histories and hair-breadth escapes--of
+horses and dogs ripped open, and men killed or gored; but that which put
+a finishing-stroke to Adolphe's courage, was the entrance of a friend of
+mine, who had himself been a sad sufferer in one of these adventures.
+Wounded, but not mortally, the boar had charged him before he could
+reload, tearing up with his tusk the inside of his thigh; and, as he lay
+insensible on the ground, gnawing one of his calves off before any one
+could come to his assistance. During the next two months death shook him
+by the hand in vain, for he had fortunately an excellent constitution;
+"And, though the proportions of his left leg," whispered I, "have been
+restored by a slice out of a friendly cork-tree, he is, as you see,
+quite recovered."
+
+"True enough!" said the new arrival, who had overheard the concluding
+remark, "and if you have any doubts, Sir, I will show you my leg;" but
+Adolphe, thoroughly convinced, declined the offer, and retired to his
+room for the night.
+
+The dawn was yet gray, when the court-yard of the Château d'Erveau
+presented a very animated appearance; horses, dogs, and beaters were
+walking up and down, neighing, yelping, and conversing,--the huntsman
+every now and then winding his horn, giving notice to the inmates that
+all was ready. The morning was superb, and as the party filed out of the
+yard, doffing their beavers to the ladies, who, screened behind their
+window-curtains, dared not return their salute, Adolphe was a little
+reassured. Long, however, before they reached their hunting-ground, his
+chivalrous feelings had so far forsaken him, that he had serious
+thoughts of returning, on the plea of indisposition.
+
+"Why do you lag so far behind?" said I, riding up to him at this
+juncture, "why your nose is quite white. Nay, don't blush; braver men
+than you have felt far from comfortable the first time they went
+boar-hunting. You are afraid. Come, don't deny it; but, never mind, I
+will not quit you for a moment."
+
+"With all my heart; for, though I cannot exactly say I am afraid, yet
+that infernal cork-leg is continually dancing before my eyes."
+
+"I have not the least doubt of it; and, by Terpsichore! what a pretty
+thing it would be to see the handsome Gustave Adolphe de M---- dancing
+polkas and redowas in the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg St. Germain with
+a cork-leg or a gutta-percha calf! The very idea gives me the cramp in
+every toe."
+
+Conversing much in the same strain, the eight _chasseurs_ arrived at the
+rendezvous, where they dismounted. The beaters and _gardes-de-chasse_
+were all at their posts, and on the alert to the movements of the boar,
+and as we advanced deeper in the forest, the conversation, which had
+been so lively on our setting forth, flagged, and at length subsided
+into an occasional remark on the obstacles which impeded our progress.
+Nothing renders a man more reserved than his approach to an anticipated
+danger. I looked askance at Adolphe, and saw that his teeth rattled like
+castanets; and when the foremost keepers, in doubt as to the track, blew
+a plaintive note, which, ere it died away, was answered by another in
+the distance, showing that we were in the right one, Adolphe's
+breathing became stentorious behind me. And then as the branches and
+hazel twigs, through which we forced our way more rapidly, flew back and
+struck him in the face, he supplicated me to stop.
+
+"Not so fast, my dear friend, not so fast! Have mercy on my Parisian
+legs! Misericorde! I cannot proceed. Do stop! There, my nose is skinned
+by that last branch! Good--there, my breeches are breaking! For pity's
+sake, stop!" But to stop was impossible; and I remained silent, having
+quite enough to do looking out for myself. At length we arrived at the
+appointed spot. Adolphe, in a state bordering on the crazy, his clothes
+in shreds, his face and hands bleeding from the thorns, anger in his
+blood, and perspiration on his brow, his furious eyes looked at me as if
+I had been the author of his misfortunes. And here a scene would most
+undoubtedly have ensued, but happily the head _piqueur_ arrived,
+informing us that the boar was in a thick patch of underwood, about two
+miles from thence, in which he was supposed to be taking his mid-day
+_siesta_, and that a number of peasants having headed him on one side,
+he could not well escape. Our measures were quickly taken.
+
+"Serpolet," said I to the _piqueur_, "have you seen the animal?"
+
+"At a distance, Monsieur."
+
+"What is he like?"
+
+"Oh! a tremendous fellow--long legs, enormous head, large tusks, and
+such a muzzle!--he breaks through everything. A fortunate thing,
+Monsieur, the dogs were not with us."
+
+"Well!" said I to my father, "of course this gentleman is to have the
+place of honour."
+
+"The place of honour!" cried Adolphe, "which is the place of honour?"
+
+"Why, the most dangerous to be sure," replied my father, "the third or
+fourth post from where he breaks cover. The first or second shots seldom
+kill him; wounded, he continues his course, and, savage and ferocious,
+generally turns upon the third or fourth _chasseur_, at whom, with
+lowered head and glaring eye, he charges in full career. Oh! it is then
+a splendid sight, worth all the journey from Paris! Forward, my lads,
+forward! Hurrah! for the boar!"
+
+"And thus--" groaned Adolphe, with thickened speech, not at all charmed
+with this description of his onset.
+
+"And thus," remarked my father, with a bow of the old _régime_, "you
+shall be fourth, and you will see the sturdy grunter in all his beauty.
+Come, my boys! a glass of the cognac all round; then silence, and each
+to his post. Here, Serpolet, forward with them, and remember, gentlemen,
+the word of command is 'Prudence and coolness!' Off! and may your stout
+hearts protect you!"
+
+Then filing out from the glade where we had halted, each of us proceeded
+to his destination, the valiant Adolphe following Serpolet like a dog
+going to be drowned.
+
+"Monsieur," said Serpolet, "you don't seem used to this fun; let a
+graybeard and an old huntsman advise you. I have seen the
+animal--actually seen him--a terrible boar, I promise you, as black as
+ink, clean legs, and ears well apart,--all true signs of courage. As
+sure as my name is Serpolet, he will make mince-meat of us--sure to
+charge. Take my advice, Monsieur; never mind what the gentlemen say
+about waiting; don't you let him get nearer to you than five-and-twenty
+paces; if not, in three bounds he will be at you; and in another second
+you will be opened like an oyster. Take care, Monsieur!"--and, wishing
+him success, Serpolet joined the beaters, who were waiting, all ready
+to advance.
+
+"What shall we do?" said Adolphe as soon as he was gone.
+
+"Do, why, take a look about us."
+
+We were in a kind of low, open glade, about eighty paces in length, with
+an immense oak in the centre--a solitary spot, full of thick rushes,
+tufts of grass, brambles, and matted roots; in short, just the place
+that a boar would make his head-quarters. Adolphe accompanied me step by
+step, examined me from head to foot, and looked in my face as if he
+would read my every thought.
+
+"Well, Adolphe," said I, after I had considered the principal points of
+our position, "the moment has at length arrived when you must draw your
+courage from the scabbard; and I hope it will shine like the light, for
+something tells me you will require it ere long."
+
+"I'll tell you what; I beg you will not commence any of your long
+orations."
+
+"If I talk to you now, it is because I shall not be able in a few
+minutes. Pay attention, therefore, to my instructions. Remain, I advise
+you, behind this oak, then you will have nothing to fear, and be sure
+not to leave it. I will place myself at the angle down yonder."
+
+"Down there! Why you said you would not leave me for an instant."
+
+"Come, come, don't be absurd; the moments are precious; you see I shall
+only be distant an hundred yards."
+
+"An hundred yards! I tell you what--if you go ten yards, I go too."
+
+"What! are you afraid? We are alone; come, be frank."
+
+"No! I am not afraid, but my nerves are shaken; I am thoroughly done up
+with the scramble we have had through these woods; and then that rascal
+Serpolet, who prophesied that I shall be opened like an oyster--you
+shall not go, for I feel sure that when this brute of a boar makes his
+appearance, I shall be unable to look him in the face."
+
+"My dear friend, I will do as you desire. We have still half an hour to
+wait; but remember, no imprudence--and if you should see my finger
+raised, mind, not a word or a sign."
+
+As I uttered this apostrophe, a long and harmonious note from the
+head-keeper's horn, vibrating in the distance, came and died away upon
+our ears; after which, a confused clamour of voices arose, and as
+suddenly ceased.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" said I; "the _traqueurs_ are on the move, the curtain
+is raised, the play is about to commence--and, dear friend, be silent as
+death, for the actor will soon make his appearance on the stage."
+
+During the next ten minutes, a murmur of voices and confused sounds were
+again borne on the wind to the two sportsmen, announcing that the line
+of beaters was steadily advancing, and now they could distinctly hear
+them at intervals, striking the trunks of the trees with their long
+iron-shod poles, thrusting them in the underwood, and shouting in chorus
+the song of the boar.
+
+Again the horn is heard; but now its notes are sharp, shrill, jerking
+and hurried.
+
+"That, my good Adolphe, denotes that the boar has risen, has been driven
+from his lair, is in view, flying before the beaters, and I am very much
+mistaken if he does not ere long pay us a visit."
+
+Another blast is heard, but in very different tones to the last, and
+silence is again spread over the forest.
+
+"There, Adolphe--there's a joyous and melodious note; it tells me that
+the monster is following his usual paths--we are sure to see him soon.
+By St. Hubert, what lucky dogs we are!"
+
+But the Parisian answered not, and leaned against his oak, a perfect
+picture of despair.
+
+"Adolphe," I reiterated, "he won't be here yet, but speak low, or we may
+spoil everything. How do you feel? Do you think you can take good aim,
+and pull the trigger?"
+
+"I feel," whispered Adolphe, "that I am not cut out for boar-hunting."
+
+"Bah! Why, the other day you seemed to think it would be delightful, and
+now you don't appear to like the sport; keep your heart up, be cool, and
+all will be well;--it is only on grand occasions--those when real danger
+presents itself, as you told me the other day--that the proofs of
+undoubted courage show themselves; and then the ladies of the Faubourg
+St. Germain that you were to soften with your tales of forest
+life--'Mademoiselles,' you were to commence, 'when I was in Le Morvan,
+we had famous wolf and boar-hunting, and on one occasion'"....
+
+"No! no!" groaned the Parisian, "I shall commence thus: On one occasion,
+nay, ladies, on all occasions, I much prefer being in your delightful
+society to that of the boars of Le Morvan."
+
+"Nonsense, good Adolphe, you are laughing; why, you were to have the
+skin stuffed, the tusks gilt, the feet silver-mounted, and the tail was
+to be scarlet and curly. What! do you think no more about it?"
+
+"Oh, yes! and of the cork calves also."
+
+"Pooh! have we not two good hunting-knives and four iron bullets in the
+rifles, and a magnificent oak, a perfect wooden tower, for a
+breastwork."
+
+"Yes! we have all this."
+
+"And is not courage your father, and an excellent aim your mother, and
+is not death to the boar in our barrels?"
+
+"Certainly!--death--oh! what a word at such a crisis!"--and on the
+instant two shots were heard, which made him jump again.
+
+"Ah! ah!--good; that's the old gentleman who has led off the ball; the
+music of his rifle is not to be mistaken. The grisly vagabond has by
+this time two bits of iron in his flanks, which will considerably hasten
+his march. Silence! and be on the _qui vive_. Listen! Hear you not the
+distant crash in the bushes?" Two fresh shots were now fired, but
+nearer. "Said I not so? he is running the gauntlet--one more shot. Hush
+again! there he is, tearing along. Hark! not a whisper; your eye on the
+open, your ear to the wind, and your finger on the trigger!" But it was
+not the boar; for at the moment two roebucks and a fox broke near us,
+bounding along at full speed, when Adolphe, his face as pale as his
+cambric shirt, muttered, as he nearly fell upon his knees--"Oh!
+Paris--oh! Chevet--oh! Boulevard des Italiens--I shall never see ye
+more!"
+
+"Why, Adolphe! what the deuce is the matter with you? in the name of
+France, be a man. If my time is to be taken up with looking after you, I
+shall be in a nice situation. No nonsense--no useless fears? Do you, or
+do you not feel able to take part in the approaching drama?"
+
+"No, I don't--I only just feel able to get up this tree."
+
+"What! are you in such a funk as all that? Why, what a poor creature you
+must be! You are the very incarnation of fear!"
+
+"Fear? I have no fear. Who says that I have? I don't know how it is, but
+I certainly do feel something--a sort of qualm, something like
+sea-sickness--everything seems going round--no doubt a sudden
+indisposition--such a thing might happen to the bravest man--Napoleon,
+they say, was bilious at Borodino. We part for a few minutes only, dear
+friend; I shall ascend the oak--an English king once did the same."
+
+Another blast of the keeper's horn was now heard on the left.
+
+"What does that mean?" cried Adolphe, one leg in the air.
+
+"That signifies, the boar is making right for us."
+
+"Does it? Then I am up;" and, with the agility of a cat, he was in an
+instant safely lodged in the branches. "Ah! my friend! how different it
+feels up here--the sickness is quite gone off, hand me the gun."
+
+"In the name of Fortune," said I, "hold your coward tongue--here's the
+boar;" for I could now hear his snorting and loud breathing in the copse
+hard by.
+
+"Do you hear him?" said Adolphe from his perch, his cheeks as green as
+the leaves which covered him.
+
+"Hear him?" I exclaimed, "yes, I partly see him. What a monster! How he
+tears the ground!--how he bleeds and gnaws his burning wounds!--every
+hair of his back stands up, smoke and perspiration flow from his
+nostrils, and his eyes, glaring with agony and concentrated rage, look
+as if they would start from their sockets!"
+
+On came the beaters, and in a few minutes the panting beast burst from
+his thicket, and rushed across the open; my eye was on every movement,
+and, firing both barrels, the contents struck him full in front. It was
+his death-blow, but the vital principle was yet unsubdued; and,
+summoning up all his dying energies--those which despair alone can
+give--he came at me with a force that I could never have withstood.
+Fortunately the Parisian's gun was close to me, and the charge stopped
+him in full career. This was the _coup de grâce_. He still, however, by
+one grand effort, stood nobly on his haunches, opened his monstrous
+mouth, all red with blood, gave out one sharp deep groan of agony from
+his stifled lungs, and, falling upon his side, after many a wild
+convulsion, at length stretched his massive and exhausted frame slowly
+out in death.
+
+"Hurrah! Adolphe! you rascally acorn! shout, you _badaud_! give the
+death-whoop, and come down!"
+
+"Is he really dead?"
+
+"Dead! Why, don't you see he is? Come down I say--come, descend from
+your Belvedere--the farce is played out, and your legs are all right.
+You are a rank coward! however, no one is aware of it but me. Don't let
+others see it!" and in a minute Adolphe was at my side.
+
+"Listen, you fire-eater! and I will make you a hero, though you could
+not manage to make yourself one. There were four shots fired; now, take
+your gun, and remember that the two first, those ghastly holes in the
+chest, were your handiwork--do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, but what a horrible morning! what a brute! what a savage country!"
+
+"True, it is not like the Boulevard des Italiens;" and a few minutes
+after, Adolphe received, with some confusion, attributed to modesty, the
+congratulations of all the party. This diffidence, as it may be
+imagined, did not last long; his assurance soon returned, and the
+hurrahs had scarcely died away, before he had imagined and given a very
+graphic description of the last moments of the gallant boar. His toilet
+made, the monstrous carcass was placed upon a litter, hastily
+constructed with the branches of a tree, and the peasants, hoisting it
+on their shoulders, bore the deceased monarch of the woods in triumph
+to the chateau.
+
+In the evening, Adolphe's self-satisfaction was completed by an ovation
+from the ladies, who bestowed upon him the most flattering epithets.
+From the prettiest lips I heard, "What! this Parisian! this pale and
+slender young man, with such delicate hands and rose-coloured nails,
+fought face to face with this terrible beast? Admirable! And he was not
+frightened?"
+
+"Frightened, ladies," said I, "why he was smoking a cigar all the time!"
+And the secret was so well kept, and Adolphe so bepraised, that I am
+sure had I felt disposed to throw a doubt upon the circumstances, he
+would have stoutly contended that he really did kill the animal himself;
+and, to say the truth, he was to a certain extent authorized to say so,
+for the head, handsomely decorated, was sent to his mother, the
+following words having been nicely printed on the tusks:
+
+     "Killed by Gustave Adolphe de M. the 15th of August, 18--."
+
+In the course of time Adolphe's nerves improved so much that he could
+manage to knock down a leash of birds, or roll over a hare; but boars
+and wolves he declined to have anything further to do with; and when I
+met him by accident some years after, in the presence of mutual friends,
+he said, "Ah! de Crignelle, what two famous shots those were I put into
+that boar! But, gentlemen," he continued, with a sigh which seemed
+pumped up from his very heels, "what terrible forests those are of Le
+Morvan, and how dangerous the _chasse aux sangliers_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+     The _Mares_--Manner in which they are formed in the depths of the
+     forest--_Mare_ No. 1.--Description of it--The appearance of the
+     spot--Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge--Approach of the
+     birds--Animals that frequent the _Mares_ in the evening.
+
+
+Of all the various sports of Europe, that which produces the greatest
+excitement, that which is, more than any other, full of deep interest,
+dangerous and difficult, is without doubt hut-shooting at night on the
+banks of one of our large _Mares_.[1] Here the sportsman, left to
+himself, is deprived of all help; concealed in a corner of a wood, or
+squatting at the foot of a tree, he requires all his courage, all his
+experience; for he then finds himself engaged in a deadly conflict with
+the most subtle and ferocious beasts, possibly a mouthful for the
+largest and most powerful jaws, and at the mercy of the quickest ears of
+the forest. Motionless in his hut, like a spider in its web, nothing can
+put him off his guard--neither the view halloo of the passing huntsman,
+the cheerful notes of his horn, nor the music of the dogs, can distract
+his attention. All around is calm, solitude and gloom surround him, no
+voice interrogates him, no eye sees him; he is alone, quite alone, his
+blood circulates tranquilly through his veins, his faculties are all on
+the stretch, he waits, he bides his time. The shadows lengthen, twilight
+arrives, the forest puts on the garb of evening, the silence and
+solitude are more deeply felt, night is at hand, the moment so ardently
+desired approaches. Imagination begins to work, phantoms of every
+description come across his brain, and glide before his eyes, he hears,
+and fancies he sees the sylvan spirits dancing before him; his ears are
+full of mysterious and unearthly sounds, plaintive and melancholy,
+celestial harmonies, fairy melodies of another world, interrupted
+conversations between the winds, the trees, the herbage and the earth,
+as if they were offering homage to the great Creator of the universe.
+
+Firm at his post, and uninfluenced by this phantasmagoria of the brain,
+without movement and almost without breath, the sportsman waits
+hopefully; for the greatest virtue in this kind of sport is patience,
+the second courage, first-rate--his heart should be of marble, his flesh
+of steel, and his members should possess a power of immobility as great
+as that of a sphynx in an Egyptian temple. Yes! the sport _aux mares_ is
+the most stirring, the roughest that I am acquainted with, not so much
+on account of the real danger attending it, but in consequence of those
+fictitious, unknown, and imaginary, produced by the silence and
+loneliness of the forest. It is my intention, therefore, in describing
+this kind of sport, to enter into the most ample details, in order that
+I may make myself thoroughly understood. I shall take, as representing
+very nearly all the pieces of water to be met with in the forest, three
+kinds of _Mares_ of different dimensions. I shall explain their
+position, the relative value they possess in the eyes of the sportsman,
+the game, large and small, to be found on their banks, and the most
+propitious time for approaching them, and I shall endeavour, if
+possible, to impress my readers with the pleasures and adventures which
+have on several occasions agitated me.
+
+If the woods and forests of Le Morvan, which, by the clouds they
+attract, the thunder-storms that continually fall over them, and the
+moisture that generally prevails, feed a great many streams, the
+district is not the less deprived, by its elevated position, of large
+rivers and extensive sheets of water; for the rains, falling down the
+sides of the trees, and penetrating the thick mossy grass at their
+roots, do not remain for any length of time on the surface of the earth.
+The whole forest may, in fact, be described as a large sponge, through
+which the water filters, descending to the inferior strata, where it
+finds the secret drains of Nature, and is by them conducted into the
+plains. The roots being thus continually watered, the trees are fresh
+and vigorous in their growth, and produce a most luxuriant foliage; the
+ground itself, however, is generally dry under foot, and in some places
+rocky.
+
+It is therefore very rare, quite an exceptional case, to find on the
+elevated heaths, or in our forests, any lakes or large pieces of water;
+nevertheless they are to be seen here and there, and then the cottage of
+the peasant, or the hut of the wood-*cutter is sure to raise its modest
+head on their banks; in time these humble edifices are augmented in
+number till they sometimes become a considerable village. If the spring,
+once a silvery thread, and now a brawling rivulet, changes its character
+to a deep and considerable stream, farm-houses, a chateau, or a
+hunting-box are soon erected near it. If it is merely a tiny source
+rising from the earth, or springing from some isolated rock, and soon
+lost in the moss, without even a murmur, calm and silent, as the life of
+the lowly peasant, which is slowly consumed in the scarcely varying path
+of labour,--then no one takes the least notice of it.
+
+Sometimes, however, the tears which the earth thus sheds, this crystal
+thread, scorned by the unobserving passer-by, is arrested in its timid
+course by some trifling obstacle--a rising path, a fallen branch or
+tree. This little streamlet swells, frets the immediate spot of ground,
+imperceptibly increases in size, and becomes after many efforts, the
+patient work of months and years, something like the basin of a large
+_jet d'eau_, a liquid cup lost in the recesses of the woods, reflecting
+only a very small portion of the blue heavens above; unknown to man, but
+always frequented by thousands of delighted and happy insects, and
+little birds that come there in the great heats of summer to refresh
+themselves, to skim across the surface, and sip, with head uplifted
+towards heaven, its pellucid waters. These little springs, lost in the
+thickness of the mossy turf and the dead leaves, like a gray hair in
+the dark tresses of some village beauty, which accident or a lover could
+alone discover, when thus interrupted and formed into a bowl of water,
+such as I have described, is called a _Mare_.
+
+If, therefore, the sportsman in traversing the depths of the forest
+should chance to discover one of these mirrors of the passing butterfly,
+of the flower which inclines its slender form towards it, or of the bird
+that sings and plays in the branches that overspread its surface, he
+must not look contemptuously upon it, for this little liquid pearl, thus
+concealed in the shade, which the hot rays of the sun would dry up like
+an Arabian well, if they could reach it, may prove to him a mine of
+varied reflections--a page of nature's great book, and in it he may
+possibly find, if he have an observing eye and an understanding heart, a
+type of this lower world, with all its hateful passions, its follies and
+virtues, its wars, rivalries, injustice and oppression.
+
+One day, when out shooting, and following by tortuous paths, to me
+unknown, the bleeding traces of a roebuck which I had wounded, I had the
+good fortune to meet with one of these _Mares_. The piece of water of
+which I thus became what I may term the proprietor, was from fifty to
+sixty feet in circumference, though at the first glance I fancied it
+was only half the size, so completely was it covered near the side by
+thorns and briars, and in the centre by lilies, flags, and other aquatic
+plants. By certain other signs, also, the gigantic creepers, and the
+barkless and headless trees, bending and falling with age; by the deep
+thickets that surrounded it, and by the solitary aspect of the pool, I
+felt convinced that mine was the first footstep that had trodden its
+precincts,--that I was the Christopher Columbus of the place.
+
+Enchanted with my discovery, I determined to mark the spot, for I
+thought it a _Mare_ of peculiar beauty. It was almost surrounded by wild
+fruit trees, which grow in great numbers in our forests: here were the
+sorb, or service tree, and the medlar, bending to the ground under the
+weight of their luxuriant fruit; intermingled with these waved the lofty
+and slender branches of the wild cherry, the berries of which, now ripe,
+and sweet as drops of honey, and black as polished jet, offered a
+delicious repast to clouds of little birds, that hopped chirruping from
+twig to twig: and lastly, I may mention a fine arbutus, which in its
+turn presented a tempting collation to the notice of many a hungry
+bullfinch. The soft turf around was strewed with the shining black and
+bright red berries, which the last breeze had shaken from the verdant
+branches.
+
+To describe the crystal notes, the liquid cadences, the merry songs of
+the feathered inhabitants of this hive, that pursued one another
+rejoicing amongst the leaves, is impossible. Besides, my unexpected
+appearance threw them into perfect consternation; and this greatly
+increased when, drawing from my side my hunting-knife, I began to cut
+down, in all directions, the bushes which intercepted a nearer approach
+to the miniature lake.
+
+The storm of helpless anger, menaces, and complaints from these little
+creatures was quite curious. "Oh! the wretch!" a cuckoo seemed to say;
+"what does he mean by coming here, showing us his ugly face?"--"Oh! the
+horror," cried a coquette of a tomtit, holding up her little
+claw.--"_Hélas! hélas!_ our poor trees, our beautiful leaves, and our
+lovely greensward--see how he is cutting away--Oh! the wicked man! the
+destructive rascal!" they all piped in chorus. But I paid no attention
+to them, and went on hacking away, and whistling like one of the
+blackbirds. This indeed I continued to do for several days, working like
+a woodman, and all alone, for I did not wish to associate myself with
+any person, lest he should claim a share in my discovery; but it was
+long before I began to enjoy the fruits of my hard labour. The trunks
+were sawn, the branches lopped, and after considerable trouble I at last
+cleared my piece of water from the bushes and parasitic plants which
+blocked it up. The evening breeze now circulated rapidly over it, and
+the sun could look in upon it for at least two hours of the day.
+
+My friends who saw me leave the house every morning with a basket of
+tools at my back and a hatchet at my side, like Robinson Crusoe, and who
+witnessed my return each evening heartily tired, with torn clothes,
+scratched hands, and dust and perspiration on my face, without a single
+head of game in my bag, could not comprehend why I went out thus alone
+into the forest, and remained there the livelong day. Often did they
+persecute me with questions, and try in every way to penetrate the
+mystery; all in vain, my whereabouts remained hidden like a hedgehog in
+his prickly coat, and I managed matters so well that during two
+successive years I was the unknown proprietor and Grand Sultan of my
+much-loved _Mare_.
+
+But when my task was finished, a task that hundreds of birds, perched in
+the oaks, the elms, and the adjoining thickets, viewed with mingled
+feelings of approbation, disapprobation, curiosity, or interest,--when
+the last stroke of my hatchet was given, I said to myself, while looking
+on the result of my unremitting toil, "'Tis well, and what a change has
+taken place in this little corner of the forest. In truth, it looks
+superb."
+
+The little lake was now a perfect oval, and the water, not very deep,
+but limpid as crystal, was full of green and coloured rushes--the
+surface being partly covered by the white and rose-tinted flowers of the
+water-lilies, which reposing delicately on their large flat green
+leaves, looked like velvet camellias placed upon a plate of sea-green
+porcelain. In the mossy turf which bordered it, beds of violets, pink
+daisies, and lilies of the valley, sent forth a cloud of perfume, and on
+the large forest trees hung festoons and garlands of the honeysuckle and
+the clematis; so that the _Mare_ and the surrounding foliage, would,
+seen from above, have appeared like a large well with leafy walls, or an
+immense emerald, which some spirit of the air, returning from a marriage
+of the gods, had inadvertently dropped on his way home.
+
+Having given a description of the lake, I must describe my picturesque
+and sylvan hut. This, constructed of trunks of trees, branches and
+osiers, was placed about twenty paces from the water, completely
+concealed by the bushes that encircled it; the inside was fitted up in
+rustic taste with seats of wood, the whole carpeted with turf, and the
+entrance planted with every kind of odoriferous flower.
+
+This _Mare_, approached by marks known only to myself, became
+thenceforward the source of all my pleasures. At that period very young,
+and equally careless, I would not have parted with my large liquid
+_tazza_, my little lake, my leafy castle, for all the vulgar comfortable
+_chateâux_ in the neighbourhood.
+
+If I have lingered too much over this subject, the reader must forgive
+me for elaborating this picture--this portrait I may call it of my
+_Mare_. He has before him a type of all the others, and this again must
+be my excuse, it is so dear to the unfortunate to stir the still warm
+embers of by-gone memories,--so dear to rouse from their slumbers the
+treasured recollections of early days,--to wake those sweet spirits of
+the mind, those phantoms robed in azure blue, and decked with the
+pearls, the joys which never can glide again across the dreamer's
+path--the joys of youth.
+
+Oh _souvenirs_ of childhood!--of happy hours so quickly gone,--bright
+visions that gild, yes, light the darkest clouds of after years,
+blessed, blessed are ye! Alone, friendless, far from those I love, with
+the heart steeped, drowned in sorrow, a sombre sky before my eyes,
+wintry clouds, that distil but melancholy thoughts all around me,--well,
+I, the poor sparrow, who has been cast from his nest by the raging
+storm,--I hush my griefs to rest in tracing the picture of past
+delights. Yes, memory comes to my relief; I build again in the casket of
+the mind my sylvan hut, careless and full of youthful fancies. I am
+again seated in the depths of my native woods, speaking to the
+light-hearted thrush, and whistling to the breeze.
+
+Once more I bathe myself in the golden rays of the mid-day sun; I tread
+again the forest paths, and am intoxicated with the delicious perfume of
+its wild flowers. Hark! again I hear the cooing of the amorous doves,
+and in the distance the notes of the dull cuckoo, bewailing his solitary
+life.--But no more....
+
+The _Mares_, very different from one another, and having each of them
+very different admirers, are of three kinds; they are either small or
+large, near or distant from the village or neighbouring hamlet; and
+according as they are circumstanced in one or other of these respects
+they are more or less valuable. The largest, the deepest, the least
+known, those in short that are situated in the recesses of the forest,
+are the best and most frequented by game; to balance this advantage they
+are the most fatiguing and the most difficult to approach.
+
+In the violent heats of July and August, when the sun burns up the
+herbage, when the wind as it passes parches the skin, and the sultry air
+scarcely allows the lungs to play--when the earth is quite dried up--the
+hot-blooded animals, whose circulation is rapid, remain completely
+overpowered with the heat in their retreats all day, either stretched
+panting on the leaves, or lurking in the shade of some rock; but the
+moment the sun, in amber clouds, sinks below the horizon, and twilight
+brings in his train the dark hours of night, and its humid vapours, the
+beasts of the forest are again in movement, again their ravenous
+appetite returns, and they lose no time in ranging the woods, seeking
+how and where they may gratify it. Then it is these large _Mares_,
+silent as a woman that listens at a keyhole--silent as a catacomb, is
+all at once endowed with life,--is filled with strange noises, like an
+aviary, and becomes, as night falls, a common centre to which the hungry
+and thirsty cavalcade direct their steps.
+
+The first arrivals are hundreds of birds, of every size and colour, who
+come to gossip, to bathe, to drink, and splash the water with their
+wings. Next come troops of hares and rabbits, who come to nibble the
+fresh grass that grows there in great luxuriance. As the shades grow
+deeper, groups of the graceful roebuck, timid and listening for
+anticipated danger, their large open eyes gazing at each tree, giving an
+inquiring look at every shadow, are seen approaching with noiseless
+footsteps; when reassured by their careful _reconnaissance_, they steal
+forward, cropping the dewy rich flowers as they come, and at last slake
+their thirst in the refreshing waters.
+
+At this instant you may, if you are fatigued, and so desire it, finish
+your day's sport. You may bring down the nearest buck; and then as the
+troop, wild with affright, make for the forest, the second barrel will
+add a fellow to your first victim.
+
+But, no! pull not the trigger; stop, if only to witness what follows.
+See the roebuck prick their ears; they turn to the wind; they appear
+uneasy; call one to the other, assemble; danger is near, they feel it,
+hear it coming; they would fly, but find it is too late; terrified, they
+are chained to the spot. For the last half hour the wolves and
+wolverines, which followed gently, and at a distance, their own more
+rapid movements, have closed in upon them from behind, have formed the
+fatal circle, have noiselessly decreased it as much as possible, and at
+length come swiftly down upon the helpless creatures; each seizes his
+victim by the throat, the tranquil spot is ere long full of blood and
+carnage, and the echoes of the forest are awakened to the hellish yells
+of the savage brutes that thus devour their prey.
+
+The cries of agony, of death and victory, sometimes last for a quarter
+of an hour; and during the fifteen minutes that you are watching the
+scene from your hut, you may fancy the teeth of these brutes are meeting
+in your own flesh, and feel a cold paw with claws of steel deep in your
+back or head.
+
+The slaughter over, these monsters pass like a flight of demons across
+the turf, vanish,--and again all is silent. And when the tenth chime of
+the distant village clock is floating on the breeze, though it reaches
+not your cabin--when the falling dew, now almost a shower, has bathed
+the leaves, with rain chilling their fibres--when the bluebells and the
+foxgloves and all the wood-flowers rest upon their stems--when the
+songsters of the grove, with heads comfortably tucked under their warm
+wings, sleep soundly in their nests, or in the angles of the
+branches--when the young fawns, lost in some wild ravine, bleat for
+their mothers whom they never will see more; and the gorged wolves,
+their muzzles red with blood, are stretched snoring in their dens and
+lurking-places--then it is the heavy boars, shaking off their laziness,
+leave their sombre retreats--take to the open country, and trotting,
+grunting, and with hesitating footsteps, come and plunge their awkward
+and heavy bodies in the marshy waters, and wallow in the soft mud.
+
+
+[1] Query,--fox-hunting and stag-hunting.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     Appearance of the _Mare_ in the morning--Forest etiquette--Mode of
+     obtaining possession of the best _Mare_--Every subterfuge fair--The
+     jocose sportsman--The quarrel--Reveries in the hut--Comparison
+     between meeting a lady and watching for a wolf.
+
+
+The _Mares_ on the borders of which these scenes of strife and carnage
+take place, are found by the morning sun surrounded by a crimson circle,
+and all the horrid details of the battle-field--proof that the weak have
+been slaughtered and overcome by the strong; a humiliating sight! for
+the desolation created by the bad passions of man is far too like it.
+Sometimes these _Mares_ are from two to three hundred feet in
+circumference, and these may be truly termed the diamonds of the forest.
+The _Mare_ No. 1., fed by small but always flowing springs, is full,
+when others are dried up, and is frequented by troops of animals, savage
+and meek, which thirst and heat drive there from all points of the
+compass. These _Mares_, but little known, few in number, much sought
+after--become, more especially at the period of the dog-days, very
+difficult to find. Considered always as the property of the first comer,
+the poacher, who is better acquainted than any other sportsman with the
+localities in which they are to be found, generally takes up his
+quarters near them late at night, and installs himself; sleeps there,
+sups there, and, determined not to leave it under any pretext, laughs in
+the face of the unfortunate wight who arrives after him, in the happy
+delusion that he has anticipated every one else. For it is a forest law,
+and acknowledged by all, that two sportsmen cannot, without disturbing
+one another, sit down at the same _Mare_; possession is in this not only
+nine but ten points of the law; and, if a mere lad, with a
+fowling-piece, happens to place himself first on its banks, no giant
+seven feet high would think of using his superior strength to expel him.
+
+Such is the law--such is the custom--to act in defiance of it would
+expose the culprit to the chance of receiving a charge of No. 3 in his
+jacket; and as each _Mare_ has its wooden hut, in successive summers,
+constructed by you, embellished by me, knocked in, cut about, injured by
+some one else, and repaired by all--the first man who puts the stock of
+his gun on the floor of the cabin becomes immediately and incontestibly
+the lucky proprietor of it for that night.
+
+And how shall I explain to you the thousand cunning tricks, the
+diabolical, the ingenious finesses, the Philipistic and Machiavellian
+diplomacy, which sportsmen employ one towards the other to obtain
+possession? Two friends, for instance, meet by accident on the same
+road; with what perfect and impudent lies do they entertain each
+other!--with what gusto do they try and take one another in!--what
+cheating doubts do they not mutually endeavour to raise, in their desire
+to induce each other to take the wrong road! With the effrontery of a
+_diplomate_, with the assurance of a secretary of legation,--one
+affirms, his hand on his heart, and looking towards heaven, that he is
+going to the left, when it is his positive intention, well-considered
+beforehand, to go to the right. No, France and England, Bresson and
+Bulwer, playing their game of chess of the Spanish marriages on the
+green cloth of political rascality,--never said anything comparable to
+the devices of these lying chevaliers of the forest.
+
+Everything is permitted--every stratagem is fair, so long as either is
+endeavouring to triumph over his adversary; and then, when they have
+gone so far as to be able to wish one another good afternoon, and each
+has convinced himself that he has put the other on the wrong road--that,
+thank the stars, his rival is off, that he is far off, that he cannot
+see him--what haste! what strides and leaps to get speedily to the spot,
+and make himself safe! The running of the celebrated Greek, who, with
+his breast laid open by a ghastly wound, ran eighty miles in ten hours
+to announce to the impatient Athenians the victory of Marathon, was the
+pace of a tortoise compared with the demon-racing of these _chasseurs_.
+
+And, after all this anxiety and rapid locomotion,--after turning and
+winding in and out of the wood, and round the wood to avoid the
+open--across the brook to avoid the bridge--through the brambles and
+thick underwood to avoid the open path--when you think you have cheated,
+or, at any rate, distanced your enemy,--when you perceive in front of
+you the object of your hopes,--the well-known and much-desired hut which
+seems to invite you to repose after your long day's walk--why, at that
+interesting moment, even your own, your very own brother would be a
+veritable Bedouin in your eyes, a man to be put out of the way any how,
+if he attempted to stop you.
+
+At such a crisis, if a real sportsman were to hear that his house was on
+fire, that his banker was off to America, taking with him his wife and
+his money, he would not, I say, in such a moment turn his head round to
+see which way they went;--Imagine, then, when in order to succeed you
+have made yourself out a cheat of the first water, and employed every
+possible subterfuge,--conceive what would be the extent of your anger
+and indignation, what your disgust,--when on arriving at your coveted
+_Mare_, at your oasis, at your paradise, at the spot for which you have
+toiled and invented such lies, to find the hut--occupied!
+
+Sometimes you may find in the possessor a _chasseur_, who likes to amuse
+himself at your expense,--a jocose fellow, who, hearing you at a
+distance working your way through the underwood, and seeing you through
+the leaves advancing with eager and rapid steps to the spot, conceals
+himself behind the entrance, and as you are just on the point of
+entering the hut, your foot just on the step, the droll sportsman puts
+his ugly head out of the window, as a yellow tortoise would his out of
+his shell, asking you, in most polite terms, what o'clock it is; or if
+it should chance to be raining a deluge at the time, remark in
+compassionate accents, "Why, sir, you seem rather damp!"
+
+Job was never so unfortunate as to arrive at a _Mare_ already occupied;
+had he done so, it is not by any means clear to me that he would have
+been able to contain his wrath. For my own part, I have frequently been
+beside myself with vexation, and on one occasion was very nearly having
+a quarrel to the death with my best friend. We had accidentally met in
+the forest, as described, and had deceived each other, as two Greeks of
+Pera would, when making a bargain. After our _rencontre_, my friend went
+to the right, I to the left; he on the sly, turning and twisting by
+footpath and wood to conceal himself from observation; I, on the
+contrary, went directly to the spot, and striding away as fast as I
+could go, arrived at the _Mare_ about three minutes before him, scarlet
+and streaming with exertion, and quite out of breath. My friend who was
+equally heated, but, in addition, disappointed and in a furious rage,
+addressed me in most insulting language, declaring between the hiccup,
+which his want of breath and want of coolness had produced, that I was
+a Jesuit, a hypocrite; and many other affectionate epithets did he apply
+to me with the utmost volubility.
+
+If I had not been the fortunate occupant of the hut, which gratifying
+fact was as honey to my lips and oil to my bones, and had a most
+soothing influence on my temper, I should naturally have revolted at
+such conduct; but this constrained me, and I remained perfectly quiet,
+determined to allow my lungs to regain their composure before I replied.
+Seeing this, his rage increased tenfold, and he proposed a duel with our
+fowling-pieces, hunting-knives, or two large sticks; he offered me,
+also, an aquatic duel of a most novel character,--namely, for both of us
+to undress and endeavour to drown each other in the _Mare_! In short, he
+continued for at least a quarter of an hour to rave and rail without
+ceasing.
+
+But of all this abuse I took not the slightest notice, remaining
+perfectly calm, sitting in my hut like Solomon on his throne, and
+fanning my heated countenance with the brim of my broad hat, as if I had
+been in a glass-house. It is true I laughed in my sleeve, looked
+vacantly at the blue heavens, and whistled the chorus or snatches of a
+hunting song. Finding therefore, it was impossible to move me, my
+adversary finished by getting tired of roaring and abusing; and having
+rubbed the perspiration from his distorted face with a force which
+seemed as if he would rub his nose off, he turned on his heel with the
+grace of a wild boar that had received a brace of balls in his
+haunches,--looking me fiercely in the face, and pouring forth as a last
+broadside, a dozen of oaths in the true _argot_ style, which seemed to
+dry up the very plants near him, and silenced the frogs that were
+croaking in the _Mare_.
+
+Such, however, is the force of habit and of this rule; and so truly does
+every one feel that on the strict observance of it depends the
+tranquillity of all, that the law of first possession is never violated;
+although it is but simply acknowledged by the justice and good sense of
+every sportsman, it is quite as well established in their manners and
+customs as if it were written on tables of iron. The consequence is,
+that however enraged a person may be, he sees, and generally at the
+outset, that his best course is to give way; he may fume and strut, look
+big and villify, but he bows his head and is off with as embarrassed a
+face as yours, gentle reader, would certainly be, if a friend whom you
+knew to be ruined came and asked you to lend him twenty thousand francs.
+
+But also, by St. Hubert, if you remain the lord and master of this
+_Mare_, how your heart leaps, how all fatigue is forgotten! and when the
+twilight approaches, what a fever there is in your veins!--what anxiety!
+I have heard of the delirious and suffocating emotions of a lover
+waiting for his mistress at the rendezvous. Fiddlesticks! I say, gruel
+and iced-water. The most volcanic Romeo that ever penned a letter or
+scaled a wall, is to the sportsman waiting amidst the howling storm on a
+dark night for the wolves, what a cup of cream is to a bottle of
+vitriol. As for myself, I would give,--yes, ladies, I am wolf enough to
+say,--that I would willingly give up the delightful emotions of ninety
+rendezvous, with the loveliest women in the world, black or white, for
+twelve with a boar or a wolf. In return for this bad taste, I shall
+probably be devoured some day or other,--a fate no doubt duly merited.
+
+I will suppose, therefore, that the sportsman is squatting quietly in
+his hut, like a serpent in a bush. With what ardour and nervous anxiety
+does he not await the propitious and long-expected hour! He throws open
+the ivory doors of his castle in the air,--his hopes are multiplied a
+thousandfold. What shall I shoot?--what shall I not shoot? Will it be a
+she-wolf, or a roebuck? No, I prefer a boar. Will he be a large one? But
+if by chance I should kill a sow?--what a capital affair that would be;
+the young ones never leave their mother; perhaps I should bag three or
+four,--perhaps the whole fare. But then, how shall I carry them off?
+Perhaps the wolves will save me the difficulty of contriving that, and
+dispute my title to them,--perhaps they will attack me, eat me, the sow,
+the pigs, and my sealskin cap.
+
+How, I beseech you, is the following _monologue_ to stand comparison
+with the fierce excitement of such anticipations? Will she come this
+evening, the darling--will my sweetest be able to come?--shall I be
+blessed with one kiss?--shall it be on the left cheek or the right, or
+shall I press her lips to mine? Bah! there can be no comparison in the
+hunter's mind; and then you barricade yourself in your hut as evening
+approaches, strengthen the weak points, study the best positions, look
+to your arms; the day seems as if it would never close,--nothing is
+left for you to do but to muse in the interval, and think of the poor
+maudlin lovers, who at this very hour are squatting under a wall like so
+many young apes; or of him who, half concealed, stands on the watch at
+the angle of a dirty street, waiting with a fluttering heart the arrival
+of some sentimental little chit of a girl, who is nevertheless coquette
+enough to keep him waiting for half an hour. And again, with what
+disdain and contempt you regard such birds as pigeons, turtle-doves,
+buzzards, wild duck, and teal; hares and foxes, too, which make their
+appearance from time to time,--to kill these never enters your head.
+
+What, not the fox, with his splendid bushy tail?
+
+Why what do you take me for, good reader?--what can I possibly want with
+that?--I, who am about to knock over two roebucks and three wolves?
+Peace, peace, my friends; skip and skuttle about, young rabbits; nibble
+away, middle-aged hares,--don't put yourselves the least out of the way,
+you won't have any of my powder. Besides, to fire would be very
+imprudent, and to a great extent compromise the sport; for at this
+period the sun is sinking, the shadows are slowly lengthening, the
+roebuck are on their way, and the she wolf in the neighbouring thicket
+is raising her head and listening for the sounds which indicate that
+her prey is not far off. And you listen also to catch the slightest
+noise that comes on the wind,--for each and all are a vocabulary to the
+huntsman,--a gust of wind, the note of a bird disturbed, a weasel
+running across the path, a squirrel gnawing the bark, a breaking branch,
+startles you, circulates your blood, and puts you anxiously alive to
+what may follow. Everything that surrounds you at this still tour of
+twilight courts your attention,--the waving branches speak to you,--the
+hazel thicket, bending to the weight of some advancing animal, puts you
+on your guard; the heart beats, not for the rustling of a silk gown, nor
+for the hurried footfall of woman treading with fairy lightness on the
+fallen leaves. The syren voice is not about to whisper softly in your
+ear, "Are you there, violet of my heart!" nor are you about to reply,
+"Angelic being, moss-rose of my soul, let me press your sweet lips?"
+What you are waiting for are the wild beasts of the forest,--you are
+listening for their distant and subdued tones, their bounding spring,
+their near approach, their bodies as a mark for your rifle, their yells,
+and cries, and death agony for your triumph.
+
+Then the inexplicable charms of danger excite the sportsman's feelings;
+his physical faculties, like those of the Indian, are doubled; he
+grasps his rifle with a firmer clutch, and looks down the blade of his
+hunting-knife with anxiety and yet with satisfaction. It grows dark, but
+his eyes pierce the gloom--his life is at stake, but he forgets that it
+is so; for the love of the chase, the wild pleasures of the huntsman,
+have taken possession of his soul. Breathless, his heart thumping
+against his chest, as if it would break its bounds, he listens, the
+cloudy curtain rises, and with it the moon; the roebucks are heard in
+the distance, then the stealthy steps of the wolves, afterwards the rush
+of the boar: and now, gentlemen, the tragedy is about to
+commence--choose your victims.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   _Mare_ No. 2.--Description of it--Not sought after by the sportsman--The
+   sick banker--The doctor's prescription--The patient's disgust at it--Is
+   at length obliged to yield--Leaves Paris for Le Morvan--Consequences to
+   the inmates of the château--The banker convalescent.
+
+
+If the great _Mares_ No. 1, situated in the dark and silent depths of
+the forest, far from every habitation, and where you find you are left
+as much to yourself as the poor shipwrecked sailor supporting his
+exhausted frame upon a single plank on the angry billows, are so
+attractive, and so much coveted, though dangerous and difficult to
+secure, the same cannot be said of those which lie in the vicinity of a
+village, and which I shall call _Mare_ No. 2.
+
+These last are to be met with easily enough; but being so very readily
+discovered, it is therefore rare to find near them the larger
+descriptions of game,--though the sportsman may see a few thrushes, some
+dozen of water-wagtails, and flocks of little impudent chaffinches,
+greenfinches, &c., which come there to imbibe, hopping from stone to
+stone, and singing in the willows; beyond these he will see nothing
+worth the cap on the nipple of his gun. Nevertheless to him who is
+without experience,--to the hunter who cannot read the language of the
+forest on the bark of the trees, on the freshly trodden ground, or the
+bent grass and broken flowers,--these pieces of water seem quite as
+beautiful and well situated, indeed quite as desirable, as the others.
+
+Perhaps such an ignoramus might prefer them; for they are always more
+open, more free from weeds, rushes and flags, and less dark; and at the
+hour of _la chasse au poste_, the hour of twilight, they are as solitary
+as the _Mare_ No. 1. But the savage beasts of the forest are not to be
+deceived; their instinct tells them that at a quarter, or perhaps half a
+mile from them, there is, though unseen and hidden in the thickness of
+the trees, a farm, or two or three houses; and when they are not pressed
+onward by the winter snows, or by maddening hunger, they stop,--for the
+smell of man is not pleasant to their nostrils, the neighbourhood is not
+agreeable to them, and they immediately withdraw from the spot.
+
+It is thus that these _Mares_ are always at any person's disposal; the
+passing sportsman rarely makes more than a circuit round them; and if
+one is occasionally found on their banks, he may at once be set down as
+a beginner, who, having found the _Mares_ No. 1 in the vicinity all
+occupied, has here installed himself for the evening in sheer vexation
+and despair. Over these pools of troubled water, frequented during the
+whole day by the inhabitants of the adjoining cottages, that eternal
+stillness and imposing solitude, which are the delight of the wolf and
+the boar, never reigns.
+
+The day has scarcely dawned ere the wood-cutters' wives, in their red
+petticoats, with brown jugs on their heads, come to fill them there, or
+to wash their vegetables; the cows to drink, the children to play at
+ducks and drakes, or the men to water the horses. But a little before
+nightfall all this going and coming, this trampling of heavy _sabots_,
+the bellowings, oaths, and cracking of whips subside, and cease, as if
+by magic, when the sun is down. The poultry and the peasants are equally
+silent, their huts are closed, their beds are gained, and their dogs,
+stretched motionless behind the door, snore and sleep soundly with open
+ear, and every leaf without is still.
+
+The _chasseur à l'affût_, if inexperienced or not acquainted with the
+country, while reconnoitring the spot during the last few minutes of the
+twilight that remain, would never imagine that he was near an inhabited
+spot; not a bark, not a sound, not one twinkling light in a cottage
+window, not one wreath of ascending smoke is to be heard or seen.
+Thinking therefore that he has made a grand discovery, he rubs his hands
+with no little satisfaction, squats down at the foot of some tree, or in
+the temporary shed on the bank, and believes he is going to kill a dozen
+wolves at least.
+
+But, alas! it is in vain for him to open his eyes and his ears; nothing
+is to be seen but one or two hideous bats, which flap their wings in his
+face, and frighten him in the midst of a reverie. Nothing is on the
+move; no newt or tadpole is playing in the water, and nothing can be
+descried there but the rays of the moon, as she moves slowly o'er its
+surface; nor is anything to be heard except the wind whistling through
+the trees, or an occasional shot from the rifle of a brother sportsman,
+who, more happy, more clever, and better placed than himself, may be
+heard in the distance. I should not have thought of mentioning the
+_Mares_ No. 2, so little do they deserve attention, if one of them had
+not been the scene of a very strange adventure of which I was witness;
+and as the description of it will give me an opportunity of speaking of
+the _Mares_ No. 3, and of the third mode of taking woodcocks, I shall
+profit by the circumstance to relate it.
+
+One day a _millionnaire_, a Lucullus, a rich banker of Paris, found
+himself dreadfully ill: his body grew larger every twenty-four hours;
+his neck sunk into his shoulders, his breathing became difficult, and
+three or four times in the course of a week he was within a little of
+being suffocated; as many times in the course of a month the gout, which
+in the morning had been tearing his toes and his heels as if with hot
+pincers, in the evening twisted his calves and his knees as if they were
+being made into ropes. What was to be done under these circumstances?
+The best physicians consulted together, and recommended him to order a
+pair of hob-nailed shoes from a country shoemaker, and instantly leave
+the capital.
+
+"Hob-nailed shoes, with donkey heels!" cried the banker, all amazed;
+"and for what, in the name of goodness?"
+
+"Why, to run with in search of health over the wild moors and heaths,
+and improve your figure by long walks in the mountains," was the reply.
+
+And as the only hope of health was obedience, he prepared his mind to
+set off. It is true the doctors permitted him to carry with him his
+cane, his flute, and his eye-glass; but he was obliged to leave behind
+his carriages, his horses, his luxurious arm-chairs and his cooks; in
+short, he was informed that, under the penalty of being quickly placed
+under ground, and obliged to shake hands with his respectable ancestors,
+and enjoy with them the nice white marble monuments under which they
+reposed, he must, for the next year at least, make use of his own legs,
+forget there were such things as _Rentes_, eat only when he felt hungry,
+and drink when he was thirsty.
+
+What a sentence for a rich Parisian banker! to leave his splendid hotel
+and his apartments, redolent with delicious perfumes, and play the
+pedestrian up and down the footpaths in the woods, the mossy glades and
+highway of the forest, or sit on a large stone at the top of a hill
+under the mid-day sun, and inhale from the valleys the soft breezes,
+laden with the odours of the new-mown hay, or the clover-fields in full
+blossom. His box at the grand opera, lined with velvet, must too be left
+behind, and many an adieu be given to the gauze-clad sylphides and
+painted nightingales of that gay establishment.
+
+Yes, all these were to be exchanged for morning walks to the summit of
+some mountain; to make his bow to Aurora, and listen to the joyous carol
+of the larks chanting high in the air their hymns of praise, or
+listening to their blithe little brothers of song, awakening in the
+bushes, and fluttering, amidst a shower of pearls and rubies--those dewy
+gems which hang in the sunny rays upon every branch. "Ah, it is all over
+with me!" wheezed the plethoric banker, when the junior doctor of the
+consultation of three informed him of their unanimous opinion.
+
+"It is all over with me, gentlemen; in the name of mercy what will
+become of me, if I am put on the peasant's daily fare of buck-wheat and
+roasted beans? Consider again, gentlemen."
+
+"It is a matter of necessity, sir," replied the trio; "your life is at
+stake."
+
+"Dear doctors, withdraw these unwholesome words; open the consultation
+afresh; pass once more in review all your scientific acquirements, your
+great knowledge of chemistry, your hospital experience. Press, dear
+gentlemen, between both your hands the pharmacopean sponge, and in the
+name of mercy squeeze out for me some more agreeable remedy."
+
+"There is no other," replied the funereal-looking physicians.
+
+"What, is the house then really in danger?"
+
+"Danger! sir, why it is nearly on fire. Your heart is getting diseased,
+your lungs are touched, your blood is actually scented and coloured with
+the truffles you have eaten. Why, your very nose (pray excuse the
+freedom of our remark), your roseate nose bears testimony to what we
+say."
+
+"Alas, alas! this is I fear the truth; but, gentlemen, if I leave Paris,
+what on earth will become of the Great Northern and the Orleans
+Railways, and the funds,--my dividends, rents, and bad debts?"
+
+"And your feverish pulse, sir, your wrinkled liver, and your digestion,
+which scarcely ever allows you to close your eyes?"
+
+"Yes! yes,--but my Spanish fives and Mexican bonds?"
+
+"And your bilious eyes and eyelids full of crows' feet, and the gout and
+the rheumatism which excruciate you?--those horrid spiders which are
+weaving their threads in the muscles of your calves?"
+
+"But my carrier-pigeons, gentlemen, source of my tenderest care; the
+brokerage, the speculation for the account, and my good friend, the
+Minister of the Interior, and of the _Travaux Publics_; and the snowball
+of my fortune, which must stop unproductive till I recover;--how can I
+leave all these to fate?"
+
+"Think of your respiration, which is disorganized, and the vital
+principle, the torch of life, which flickers up and down in the socket,
+and ere many weeks will be extinguished, unless you at once take our
+advice."
+
+"What!" continued the votary of wealth,--"what! cannot gold purchase
+health, most sapient doctors?"
+
+"No, sir; doctors are paid, that's all, and people cure themselves."
+
+"You persist, then, in saying that I am not even to take my head cook
+with me?"
+
+"On no account whatever."
+
+"Then I am defunct already."
+
+"That you will be so, sir, in two months, if you remain here, there
+cannot be a doubt."
+
+"Then, good heavens! where can I go? What am I to do without carriages,
+without opera nightingales, and, above all things, without a head cook?"
+
+The night succeeding the consultation, the banker felt as if twenty
+cork-screws had been driven into his calves, and he made, ere dawn, a
+vow that he would leave the capital. This determination taken, the next
+point to be decided was in what direction to go,--for it was not a
+journey of pleasure he was about to take, but one of health; and for
+once his riches were of no further use to him than to provide the means
+of transit. His physicians, fashionable men, strange to say, were
+sincere, and did not order him to Nice or Lucca, hot-baths, or mineral
+waters, or even to the orange-groves of Hyères, to which, when a rich
+man cannot recover, they send him, in order that he may die comfortably
+under Nature's warm blanket, the sun, inhaling with his last
+inspirations the delicious scent of her flowers. To Spain, where, said
+the invalid, they talk so loud and drink water, he would not go; nor to
+Germany, the land of meerschaums and sour crout. Which direction
+therefore was he to take? to which point of the compass was he to turn
+the vessel's prow?
+
+Several times did the unhappy banker pass his geography in review, but
+his knowledge of this science was indeed finite, and the Landes,
+Picardy, and such like spots, alone presented themselves to his
+imagination. In this predicament the light of friendship suddenly threw
+a ray over his thinking faculties; he remembered my father, the
+companion of his boyhood, with whom he had been brought up,--his great
+friend, without doubt, but of whom he had not thought for the last ten
+years.
+
+"By all the blue devils that dance in my brain!" said the unhappy
+_millionnaire_, starting up on his bed of pain, as if he had a spring in
+his back, and throwing at the nose of his astonished apothecary, who was
+watching him, the draught presented to him,--"by the wig of my respected
+grandfather,--by the beard of Æsculapius, I have found the real friend
+who will pour over my head the oil of health."
+
+"My good sir," said his attendant, "pray calm yourself, and take this
+pill" ...
+
+"Yes, that dear friend, he will set me all to rights--he will bring to
+my heavy eyelids those peaceful slumbers which now, alas! I never
+enjoy."
+
+"But, Sir," repeated the apothecary, "pray be so good as to lay down and
+swallow this."
+
+"Back, felon of hell! horse-leech, son of a poultice! go, doctor of the
+devil, and join your friend in black below."
+
+"But _Monsieur le Banquier_"----
+
+"Off I say, off!--sinister raven, cease your croaking! Silence--take the
+abominable drugs yourself--poison yourself, you wretch. Give me my
+trousers, and let me dress myself. Hey, Bilboquet!--bring my hot water,
+razors, and shaving soap. Hurrah! Phoebus, light the sun and put out
+the stars; arise day! Into the saddle, postillions,--here, bring some
+cigars. Hurrah! the wind is up; now, my stout boatmen, down to your
+oars." "Halloo! halloo!" shouted his attendant, "help! help!" and he got
+at both bells and rang away with might and main; but before any one came
+the banker was out of bed, struck his attendant a blow in the eye, which
+made him see one hundred and forty-six suns, and laid him upon the
+floor, after which he commenced waltzing _en chemise_ in his delirium,
+all round the room with a chair, dragging after him the unfortunate hero
+of the pestle and mortar, and roaring at the top of his voice these
+lines of Racine:
+
+  Peut-être on t'a conté la fameuse disgrâce
+  De l'altière Vasthi dont j'occupe la place,
+  Lorsque le Roi, centre elle enflammé de dépit,--
+
+followed by--
+
+  Quel profâne en ces lieux ose porter ses pas?
+  Holà, gardes!--
+
+At this moment a reinforcement most luckily arrived; but as in this
+access of fever he defended himself against all comers like a bear, and
+boxed away like an Englishman, they had no little difficulty in
+securing him; at length, in spite of his violence, he was replaced in
+his bed, like a sword into its sheath. There, however, he would not lay
+quiet; first he tore the satin curtains, then he hugged his
+richly-worked pillow to his breast, calling it his best and dearest
+friend, and performed fifty other such antics. He obtained, in short, no
+repose, until his secretary, who entered at his bidding half-dressed and
+with one eye half shut, had written the following note to my father,
+under his dictation,--a letter evidently written in a paroxysm of high
+fever:
+
+"Friend of my heart, jessamine of my soul, bright party-coloured tulip
+of my _souvenirs_, may the Creator pour upon your gray and venerable
+head a stream from his flower-pot of blessings!
+
+"Dear Friend,--Several atrocious doctors, with pale noses, the very
+sight of which gives one the cholic, and with black searching eyes, that
+make one tremble, say that I am very ill,--that I shall die. They say
+too that there is only one mode of cure, and that is to take my valuable
+body into your beautiful province. It is the east wind they say, and
+blue-bottles, corn-flowers, field-poppies, and the green turf; the song
+of the nightingale and the beautiful moonlight nights; the hum of bees
+and the bleating of sheep, which will effect this marvellous cure. It is
+amongst the rocks and streams of your mountains, in long walks in your
+forests, and in your valleys; in the innocent candour of your pretty
+peasant girls, the pure water of your fountains, and the cream cheeses
+of your dairies that I am told resides the power to retain here below my
+soul, just ready to fly away. Alas! yes, I am forced to admit the fact;
+I must say I am very ill, and it is my own fault;--yes, my own undoubted
+fault. I have drank too deeply of voluptuous ease; I have tasted too
+often the luscious grapes of forbidden pleasures. I am no longer
+virtuous enough to wish to see the sun rise, and hence it is that I am
+suffering intensely in the capacity of a human pincushion, in which, one
+after the other, the sharpest and most pointed pins have stuck
+themselves, namely, every infirmity and every disease that mortal man is
+heir to.
+
+"In this delicate and distressing position, dear friend, I thought of
+you: yes, to you, to you only, shall I owe my restoration to health. Do
+not therefore be surprised if, in the course of a few days, you should
+see my shadow approach your hospitable door; and prepare for it, I beg
+you, a small room and a bed of dried leaves, coarse bread, and a jug of
+water. It seems that in order to regenerate my blood I shall want all
+these; and I shall be fortunate if, in seeking a perfect restoration to
+health, I am not obliged to be a swine-herd or keep sheep, to dig, cut,
+and saw wood, pick spinach, or weed the flower-beds! Quick, my friend;
+light with all convenient haste the altar on which we will burn again
+the incense and benjamin of friendship. Blow again the sparks now so
+nearly extinguished of our happy boyish days; revive again the holy
+flames of our youthful affections; and, above all things, have the
+scissors ready which are to cut the Gordian knot of my complicated
+diseases. Soon, in shaking you by the hand, my shadow shall say much
+more."
+
+  Yours, &c.,
+
+
+Fifteen days after the receipt of this extraordinary composition, the
+banker, escorted by a lean and cadaverous-looking doctor, arrived at our
+_château_, half strangled with a churchyard cough, and in a state of
+apparently hopeless debility. He was evidently very, very ill; and if it
+had not been for the sincere friendship my father had for him, I really
+do not know how we could have supported the dark cloud which his
+presence seemed to throw upon our house for nearly nine mortal weeks.
+
+No one dared either to move or speak: if you wished to laugh, it could
+only be on the terrace; if to blow your nose, it was to be done in the
+cellar; and as to sneezing, one was obliged to go to the bottom of the
+garden. The horses' feet were wrapped up in hay-bands, so that no sound
+should be heard in the court-yard; the servants went about the house in
+list shoes, and all the approaches to it were knee-deep in straw. There
+was an end to the _fanfares_ of the huntsman's horn, and the rollicking
+chorus; guns, shot and powder, were all placed under lock and key; the
+kennel was mute, and the muzzled dogs looked piteously at one another,
+and hung their heads, as if they had given themselves up to the certain
+prospect of being drowned. The very hares knew how matters were, and
+passed to and fro before the garden-windows; and a stray wolf, which
+came one evening into the court-yard, sat on his hind-quarters and
+looked us impudently in the face; as to the birds, they ate up very
+nearly every peach and apricot we had. The silence of the grave reigned
+everywhere--the house seemed a very sepulchre, in which nothing could be
+heard but the monotonous liquid bubblings of the fountains, the ticking
+of the clocks, and the sighing breezes that whistled through the
+casements.
+
+Fairly worn out with this state of things, I was thinking seriously of
+leaving for the gay swamps of Holland, when a crisis occurred in the
+banker's disorder, and after a severe struggle, in which every bone of
+his body seemed to twist itself round, he was declared by his pallid
+doctor out of danger--saved. Surrounding his bed, we drank with no
+little joy to his perfect recovery, and during one entire week we
+suspended on the walls of his bed-room, according to the custom in Le
+Morvan, garlands of lilies and _vervenia_, interwoven with green foliage
+and wild thyme. From this time he improved daily, and three months after
+no one would have recognized the sick man; his face became quite rosy,
+and his eyes looked full of returning health. With a gun on his
+shoulder, he followed us nimbly through the vineyards, never flinched
+from his bottle, sang barcarolles with the ladies, made declarations of
+love to all the young girls, promised to marry each, once at least, and
+danced away in the evening under the acacias with the nymphs of the
+village, to whom he had always some secret to tell behind the trees, or
+in some snug little corner. The woodcock season having arrived during
+his stay, which was now nearly over, we determined that he should be
+introduced to _la chasse aux Mares_.
+
+Pardon me, kind reader, for all this gossip by the way, but this is the
+point at which I wished to arrive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     Summer months in the Forest--_Mare_ No. 3--Description of it--The
+     Woodcock fly--The Banker has a day's sport--Arrives at the
+     _Mare_--Difficult to please in his choice of a hut--Proceeds to a
+     larger _Mare_--His friends retire--The Banker on the alert for a
+     Wolf or a Boar--Fires at some animal--The unfortunate
+     discovery--Rage of the Parisian--Pays for his blunder, and recovers
+     his temper.
+
+
+During the months of June, July, and August, the great heats in our
+forests are suffocating, and the woodcock, which during the livelong day
+has been squatting under some mossy root, is impressed with the idea
+that a bathe in a clear pool of cold fresh water would be very conducive
+to its health. Thus directly the sun, red as a shot which leaves the
+furnace, falls below the horizon, and that the clouds surrounding the
+spot where it disappears, at first lurid and bright like fire, then
+yellow like a sea of gold, become cool, pale, and at length sink into
+more sober hues, the woodcock,--which waits only for this moment to open
+its wings and promenade the neighbourhood,--comes forth and commences a
+study of the winds. Guided by instinct, and by the fresh currents of
+air that float unseen in the atmosphere, she follows the sweet upland
+breezes, and soon arrives at the spring or piece of water of which she
+is in search.
+
+The _Mares_ No. 3, in which the woodcock more especially loves to take a
+bath, are almost as difficult to find as the one that I discovered, for
+they are hidden in the depths of the forest; like it, also, they are for
+the most part small, encircled by the thick foliage of the surrounding
+trees, and consequently very dark; and the more this is the case, the
+more solitary they are, and therefore the more sought after by this
+bird. A woodcock never bathes in the _Mare_ No. 1; for to them resort
+one after another all the large game, or those No. 2, as these are too
+open. The woodcocks are discreet and bashful, and, like the wives of the
+Sultan, love a retired bath-room, where they may disport themselves on
+banks ever fresh and green, perfumed with wild flowers, and immerse
+their fair persons in pellucid waters that have never been tainted with
+a drop of blood, or covered with feathers torn from the victim of the
+sportsman's gun. Thus it is therefore that the _Mares_ frequented by the
+woodcock are so entirely hidden by the thick and falling branches, so
+enveloped in deep shade, that you must have eyes made on purpose to be
+able to discover their large brown bodies plunging in the crystal water
+and wading amongst the flags. In aid of the sportsman, now as in the
+spring, a little fly comes buzzing and wheeling about in the air to warn
+the sportsman of the arrival of the birds, which, directly the moon's
+white horn is seen glancing between the trees, arrive flapping their
+wings in small parties of two and three at a time. One afternoon, when
+the wind blew soft, and the sun was refulgent in the azure above, we
+proposed an excursion in the forest to our friend the banker, who was
+now quite convalescent.
+
+"What! do you wish to give me up to the beasts?" cried he, jumping up
+from his seat.
+
+"Not at all, dear sir, pray don't be alarmed; we are merely desirous of
+making you acquainted with the most innocent, the least dangerous sport
+of the _chasse à l'affût_," and having convinced him, we started.
+Everything went well as far as the entrance to the forest; but there the
+_millionnaire_, little accustomed to walk over the stumps of underwood
+and amongst the thorns, he began to drop into the rear, stopping every
+now and then to rest against some tree, or disentangle his legs from
+some yards of bramble, puffing and blowing, and ejaculating Oh's! and
+Ha's! by dozens.
+
+"Courage! sir," we said, "courage! we shall arrive too late; one brisk
+half-hour's walk, and we are at our posts."
+
+"Upon my word, gentlemen, you are really considerate; I walk, I suspect,
+quite as fast as you. But"--and how was he delighted to find an excuse
+for a halt--"you spoke of a _chasse a l'affût_, hiding for what I should
+like to know--for bears, panthers, or crocodiles? is it this kind of
+game we are to watch for?"
+
+"Oh! no--for woodcocks."
+
+"Woodcocks!--what, have you made me walk since the morning through
+perfect beds of briars and over miles of large stones, escalade the
+mountains, descend precipices, and brought me through water-courses and
+dark ravines, to kill a few woodcocks?"
+
+"Would you prefer confronting a wild boar?"
+
+"Certainly," said the puffing convalescent; "if there was no chance of
+danger, I should infinitely prefer killing a boar."
+
+"For to-day this is impossible."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Why, in the first place, there are no boars in this wood, and it is too
+late to take you to those which they frequent."
+
+"Then we shall find only woodcocks in the place we are going to?"
+
+"Nothing else; at least during the half-hour we shall remain."
+
+"And if we were to remain more than half an hour?"
+
+"Oh! then we might perhaps by accident see a roebuck--perhaps a hungry
+wolf."
+
+"A hungry wolf!--the deuce! And if there should come by chance a wolf to
+the _Mare_ when I shall be all alone, what must I do?"
+
+"Why kill it, to be sure."
+
+"To be sure, why of course I should kill the ferocious animal,"--and the
+banker, though smacking his fingers and whistling as if quite
+unconcerned, looked very grave. Continuing our walk, we arrived at the
+_Mares_.
+
+"Goodness," said my companion, "how dark it is here,"--looking into each
+hut that was shown him. "Misericorde! if I were to ensconce myself in
+this leafy cabin, this gloomy sombre hole, I should fancy myself seated
+at the bottom of a blacking-bottle--I respectfully decline the honour of
+occupying the hut."
+
+"Very well, let us proceed to another," we exclaimed. But the second
+was pronounced more lugubrious and melancholy-looking than the first,
+and the third not more agreeable than the preceding one.
+
+"It is no longer a matter of doubt," said the Parisian; "you are a
+family of owls. What! place myself in these holes, these mouse-traps, in
+these tumuli of leaves, where the archfiend himself, habituated to every
+kind of darkness, could not distinguish anything?--thank you, gentlemen.
+As to you, you can see clear; but by the great telescope of the
+observatory, if I were to get into one of these rustic ovens, I should
+not in five minutes be able to distinguish the end of my nose--I should
+not be able to find my way to my breeches-pocket."
+
+"But, my dear sir," said I to him, when alone, for my two friends were
+now snugly seated in the rejected huts, "you are very difficult to
+please, and it becomes embarrassing, for these cabins are all alike;
+when you have seen one you have seen a dozen. Now this, believe me, is a
+capital one; come, seat yourself here."
+
+"I am much obliged to you, not that one; for this pool of water in
+particular has something very sinister about it; the spot feels raw, and
+has an unpleasant wolfish air."
+
+What was to be done? While debating thus, I remembered that at some
+little distance from the place where we then were, stood two large
+farms, Les Fermes des Amandiers, and that, at a distance of half a mile
+beyond them, there was a magnificent _Mare_, in the style, it is true,
+of _Mare_ No. 2, large and open, and yet it would be as useless to wait
+for woodcocks there as it would be to hope to catch a trout in the
+basins of Trafalgar-square. Such a spot seemed to me admirably
+calculated for the banker; I resolved, therefore, to conduct him to it.
+
+"If this hut does not please you," said I, "follow me, and quickly."
+
+"Where are you going to take me?"
+
+"Oh! do not alarm yourself, I have just thought of a place that will
+suit you exactly: a charming spot, delightfully scented by a thicket of
+honeysuckles; but you must be on the alert. See, the sun is nearly below
+the summit of the tallest oaks--we shall not have more than one hour of
+daylight; and I must return here."
+
+When we arrived at the _Mare_ of which I was in search, the immediate
+neighbourhood of it was already silent and deserted. "Heavens!" said the
+enchanted banker, "what a delightful spot! Quick!--where shall I place
+myself? Let us look for the hut--ha! here it is, but half in ruins;" for
+it had not, in all probability, been occupied three times in the last
+three years; we were obliged therefore to cut some branches, and roughly
+repair it; and the banker, having crept into the interior, like a sweep
+up a chimney, requested to have his last instructions.
+
+"Well, when night has nearly closed in," said I, laughing under my
+moustache, "be on the _qui vive_. The woodcocks will be here, but move
+not; be like a statue for a few minutes; let them approach--let them
+come, fly and whirl, and look about them; then, when reassured by your
+silence, they will fall into the shallow water, paddle in the grass, and
+plunging throw their legs into the air. At that moment they are yours.
+Take your time and a deliberate aim, and miss them not. The sport over,
+remain where you are, and on our return we will join you."
+
+"All you say is very clear and very pretty," replied the banker; "but I
+feel already a horrid cramp in my left leg; and if I am to remain
+crumpled up in this hut, like a Turk taking his coffee, or like a monkey
+gnawing an apple, when you come for me I shall have lost the use of my
+limbs."
+
+"Oh! if that is likely to be your fate, walk about--stretch your legs;
+you have yet twenty minutes before dark. Adieu, sir, adieu; and good
+luck attend you; for myself, I must be off to my post." But I had gone
+scarcely thirty yards when he shouted after me, "Oh! Henri--my dear
+young friend--come back. Here! see, a pack of wolves! What do I say? no;
+a whole family of bears has passed this way! Look! the border of the
+_Mare_ is ploughed up by the feet of these savage brutes."
+
+"Bears, sir! those marks are merely the trampling of the shepherds'
+dogs."
+
+"Shepherds' dogs! Stoop down--look closer; do you mean to tell me that
+the shepherds' dogs have made these prints of cloven feet in the mud?"
+
+"No! those are holes made by the young calves from some neighbouring
+farm, that came to drink here," I replied, repressing a laugh.
+
+"Nonsense! Henri; calves, indeed! they are the marks of buffaloes and
+wild boars. You cannot deceive me; for I know something about such
+things. Why, this _Mare_ is, I have no doubt, the rendezvous of all the
+beasts of the forest for ten miles round. Thank you, I don't intend to
+remain here."
+
+"Not remain! why you will, if you are correct, have far better fun than
+we shall. Come, get into the hut."
+
+"Remain with me, and divide the honour of the sport."
+
+"Me? no: I thank you,--adieu! and keep your eyes about you."
+
+"Halloo! Henri, come back. By the spectacles of my grandmother, what
+will become of me? I am a fool! I have lost my sight--I have forgot my
+eye-glass."
+
+"Try to do without it."
+
+"Impossible! it is useless--without an eye-glass I cannot see a yard
+before me; I shall most certainly leave this _Mare_. I shall be off with
+you."
+
+"My dear sir," said I to him, "you must know and feel that if I thought
+there was the most remote chance of danger, I would not leave you alone;
+you really have nothing to fear--if you come with me, you will be
+dreadfully in the way, and without doing the least possible good. The
+huts are so very small, that there is only sufficient room for one: we
+shall kill nothing, and be laughed at into the bargain."
+
+"But these terrible quadrupeds; what if they should come and devour me
+when you are gone?"
+
+"I tell you you have nothing to fear."
+
+"Very well, then I will believe you; after all, I am not a coward, but
+a man: a royal tiger would not frighten me, and in spite of these sombre
+looking trees waving to and fro, this silence, and the solitary look of
+the place, I remain; yes, by Jupiter, I remain; only barricade me in the
+rear, cut some thick branches, palisade me well round--there, now I
+think you may leave me, I require nothing more--and yet one word; if I
+were in danger, do you think you would hear me if I called?"
+
+"Certainly, a whisper may almost be heard in the forest at night--the
+trees conduct the slightest sound."
+
+"Well, then, give me a shake of your hand. Adieu."
+
+"Adieu, sir; be patient, and, above all, wait for our return."
+
+"Let me alone for that; never fear my leaving this hut alone."
+
+"And cover your head well, for nothing is so likely to give one cold as
+the night air rushing into the ears."
+
+"And mind, now, don't pray forget me. If you are not here in
+three-quarters of an hour, I shall fire signals of distress, and make
+the forest ring again with my maledictions."
+
+But without waiting to hear anything further, I was off, and soon
+reached my post. The sport, as usual, was pretty good; my friends and
+myself killed four couple of woodcocks, and the _affût_ over, we turned
+our steps towards the banker's cabin. No report of a gun had yet been
+heard in his direction, but suddenly, and when we were scarcely five
+hundred paces from the hut, and I was on the point of announcing our
+arrival by a shrill whistle--two barrels were discharged one after the
+other--then followed a long and heavy groan, and after that a cry of
+distress. In a few seconds we bounded to the spot, and found our friend
+stretched on the grass outside his hut, without his hat, his eyes
+staring wildly about him, and his hair in disorder. He was trembling
+with emotion, and pointed to a black animal, half hid in the water and
+the rushes, which seemed very large, and was rolling from side to side
+in the agonies of approaching death. Fright, downright fright, had tied
+the banker's tongue; and while he is collecting his senses, allow me to
+tell you, good reader, what had occurred in our absence.
+
+Dumb and motionless, as directed, he had, during half an hour, waited
+anxiously for the woodcocks; but the woodcocks had for a very long time
+forgotten the road to this _Mare_; not one came--there was no sport for
+him. He had already fancied he heard us returning in the distance, and
+that his cramped legs would be set at liberty, and his twisted body
+again assume the perpendicular, when all at once a cold perspiration
+stood upon his brow, terror seized him; for behind, nay, almost close to
+him, he heard advancing the heavy tramp and loud breathing of a wild
+beast, and before he had time to observe what kind of an animal it was,
+the brute passed so close to the hut that he pressed it down, and rushed
+on to the _Mare_. More dead than alive, the banker lay half-squeezed in
+a corner of his cabin, and panting for breath, dared scarcely move.
+After a few minutes, however, he hazarded a careful glance outside, and
+not twenty paces from him saw the immense quadruped bathing, and rolling
+himself quietly in the water.
+
+"It is a gigantic boar," said he to himself, "as large as a horse, and
+as old as Methuselah--no doubt the patriarch of the forest--what tusks
+he must have! Let us observe." And with a courage which did him credit,
+he, after some time, suppressed his fear, and felt in the pocket of his
+game-bag for two balls, which, with trembling hands, he slipped into
+his gun. After this he again looked out, and reconnoitred the movements
+of the enemy; but so great was the obscurity, that he could discover
+nothing--unless, indeed, it was a dark mass which walked and jumped
+hither and thither, rolled, frolicked, and rejoiced in his refreshing
+bath. The heart of the Parisian was greatly agitated, and beat as if it
+would split his flannel waistcoat; nevertheless, he took good and
+deliberate aim at the black object in front, and though exceedingly
+terrified, he cocked his gun, and in a perfect fever of excitement let
+fly both barrels, falling immediately backwards in a corner of his hut,
+perfectly bewildered with his own courage. A deep groan followed, and at
+the end of a few minutes of agony and suspense, our friend, seeing no
+tiger in the act of springing upon him, hazarded another look, when he
+still heard the creature moaning, and groaning, and floundering in the
+water.
+
+The fact was, he had by a miracle, and without seeing, done that which
+he never could have done at mid-day,--his two balls had perforated the
+animal's head and neck. Observing the monster raising itself with
+difficulty, and endeavouring to withdraw its legs from the sticky mud in
+which they were fixed, the courage of despair rushed into his heart--he
+left the hut, upsetting everything in his way, and precipitated himself
+upon his adversary with a view of despatching him with the butt end of
+his gun, or making him retreat further into the _Mare_, when imagine his
+consternation and fear,--at the very moment his uplifted arm was
+stretched out, like Jupiter's in the act of hurling a thunderbolt, the
+animal raised himself on his haunches, looked him full in the face,
+opened two enormous jaws, put up two very long ears, and instead of a
+roar full of rage and ferocity, sent forth the most agonizing and
+dolorous bray that was ever heard from the throat of any ass, French,
+English, or Spanish! Yes! it was an ass the banker had mortally wounded;
+an unfortunate ass, which, driven by thirst and the heat of the weather,
+had left his shed at the neighbouring farm-house, to quench it and
+refresh himself with a bath.
+
+Surprise, shame, horror, and confusion began to dance a polka in the
+banker's brain, and made him utter the hoarse cry which we had heard.
+While we were yet gazing at each other the poor creature, by a last
+effort, raised his bleeding head once more above the water, and
+collecting all the strength he had left, scrambled from the _Mare_,
+gave a half-suffocating and plaintive bray, and casting a look full of
+reproach upon the gasping banker, which seemed to say, "I die, but I
+forgive you," fell dead at our feet.
+
+A convulsion of laughter from the party, now all assembled, followed;
+even the birds, awakened from their slumbers, began to sing and partake
+of the general hilarity.
+
+"Halloo! Mr. Three per Cent.," said one, "this is what you call
+sporting, is it--killing starved woodcocks? Fie! sir."
+
+"You are three infamous vagabonds," replied the Parisian, catching his
+breath, and picking up his hat.
+
+"What! sir."
+
+"Why, you are a trinity of rascals, I repeat."
+
+"Why, what's the matter?"
+
+"Abominable hypocrites, I say; this is a piece of acting, a trick which
+you have kindly put upon me--this ass was driven here by you, or by some
+one at your suggestion; I see clearly how it is."
+
+"See clearly, do you? it is a pity, then, you did not a few minutes
+ago."
+
+"It is an infernal plot, I say; think you that I came into this wretched
+country of forests to kill donkeys?"
+
+"Well! but whose fault is it, sir; why did you not bring your
+eye-glass?"
+
+"My eye-glass; I don't require one, gentlemen, to enable me to see that
+you have made a fool of me."
+
+"My dear sir, reflect for a moment."
+
+"No, gentlemen, I feel indignant at the paltry joke you have played upon
+me--you knew that my sight was weak, and on that infirmity you have
+practised a very shameful trick; you have said to yourselves, 'Send an
+ass to this Parisian, he will no doubt take it for a wild boar.' Be off,
+gentlemen, depart; let me have a clear horizon, or I shall proceed to
+extremity."
+
+"Monsieur le Banquier, if you do not become a little more reasonable, we
+shall leave you to your reflections and to yourself, and pretty pickings
+you will be for the wolves."
+
+"So much the better; I wish to remain, I desire it; and after the gross
+insult you have offered me, I shall certainly not be beholden to you as
+a guide, or return to the town in your company." And he kicked the dead
+carcass before him in his rage.
+
+"But, Monsieur le Banquier, the night is getting chilly and damp, and
+remember you are only just convalescent; come, let us be off."
+
+"Gentlemen, I have already told you I shall not accompany you."
+
+"Why, this is madness, sir."
+
+"Anything you please; but thus it shall be. I will not leave this wood
+until I have killed a wolf; yes, I must have a wolf; it is only in the
+blood of a wolf that I can wash out the insult I have received; and I
+will remain in the forest eight days, fifteen, three months, if
+necessary. I will live on acorns, ants, toad's eggs, and roots, but by
+the soul of that stupid brute that lays there," and he gave the deceased
+ass a second kick, "I will not budge until I have killed a wolf: enable
+me to slaughter a wolf, and I will follow you; nay, what is more,
+forgive you."
+
+"Monsieur le Banquier, let us in the first place tie a stone round the
+neck of this unfortunate animal, and throw his body into the _Mare_, and
+then, as we are the only witnesses of this adventure, we swear that we
+will never divulge it to any one, or make the slightest allusion to it;
+and, as we are men of honour, you will of course believe us;--the secret
+shall be kept inviolable. On the other hand, as we are to a certain
+extent responsible for your health, and as your remaining here any
+longer in this cold wind will seriously endanger it, do not feel
+discomposed if we defer to another day the pleasure of seeing you kill a
+wolf, and request you will accompany us back to the _château_."
+
+With various flattering speeches and consoling words, to heal his
+mortification, we at length succeeded in bringing him away with us; many
+a laugh had we on our road home, and many were the promises given that
+we would never reveal the events of the evening. But, alas! the secret
+came out on the following day, for before twelve o'clock had struck, a
+peasant came knocking at the door, howling, crying, bawling like a blind
+beggar, and demanding who had killed his ass. His importunity succeeded;
+the murderer was brought to light, the banker cheerfully paid for his
+shot, and laughed heartily at the adventure; but in spite of his
+apparent philosophy, I remarked that from that moment he never met an
+ass that he did not turn away his head; and this is the kind of game
+that one finds in _Mare_ No. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     The _Curé_ of the Mountain--Toby Gold Button--Hospitality--The
+     _Curé's_ pig--His hard fate and reflections--The _Curé_ of the
+     plain--His worth and influence--The agent of the Government--Landed
+     Proprietors--Their influence--The Orator--Dialogue with a Peasant.
+
+
+If the Burgundian curates dwelling in the richest parts of the province
+are fat, sleek, and jovial members of the Establishment,--if in their
+cellars are to be found the best and most generous wines, and on their
+tables the most exquisite dishes,--the _curés_ of that portion of Le
+Morvan which is immediately adjacent to Burgundy enjoy the same
+abundance, and appreciate the advantages of good living equally with
+them. But this is not the case with their _confrères_ who reside in the
+uplands, amongst the arid and volcanic mountains, without roads, and the
+thickly timbered hill-district which joins the Nivernais. There the
+village pastors are poor, thin, and badly fed; fairly buried in the
+forest, and surrounded by a population more wretched and squalid than
+the rats of their own churches;--they seem as it were abandoned by
+everybody. That which I am about to relate will prove this, and show
+what a deplorable existence theirs is, and the ingenious methods to
+which they are obliged to have recourse to keep up a fair outside.
+
+One of them thus exiled to a most deserted part of our forests, and who,
+the whole year, except on a few rare occasions, lived only on fruit and
+vegetables, hit upon a most admirable expedient for providing an animal
+repast to set before the _curés_ of the neighbourhood, when one or the
+other, two or three times during the year, ventured into these dreadful
+solitudes, with a view of assuring himself with his own eyes that his
+unfortunate colleague had not yet died of hunger. The _curé_ in question
+possessed a pig, his whole fortune: and you will see, gentle reader, the
+manner in which he used it.
+
+Immediately the bell of his presbytery announced a visitor, (the bell
+was red with rust, and its iron tongue never spoke unless to announce a
+formal visit,) and that his cook had shown his clerical friend into the
+parlour, the master of the house, drawing himself up majestically, said
+to his housekeeper (_curés_ fortunately always have, cousins, nieces, or
+house-keepers), as Louis XIV. might have said to Vatal, "Brigitte, let
+there be a good dinner for myself and my friend." Brigitte, although she
+knew there were only stale crusts and dried peas in her larder, seemed
+in no degree embarrassed by this order; she summoned to her assistance
+"Toby, the Carrot," so called because his hair was as red as that of a
+native of West Galloway, and leaving the house together, they both went
+in search of the pig.
+
+Toby the Carrot, a youth of seventeen, was the presbyter's page, a poor
+half-starved devil that the _curé_ had taken into his service, who
+lodged him badly, boarded him worse, and gave him no clothes at all; but
+who, nevertheless, in his moments of good-humour--they were rare--and no
+doubt to recompense him for so many drawbacks, would call him "Toby
+Gold-button." At this innocent little pleasantry, this touch of
+affability, Toby grinned from ear to ear, made a deep reverence, and put
+the compliment carefully into his pocket, regretting however, no doubt,
+that he had nothing more substantial and savoury than this to eat with
+his coarse dry bread. Toby was a very useful servitor to the _curé_; he
+was always on the alert; fat did not check his rapid movements, and from
+the time the Angelus rang in the morning to Vespers in the evening, his
+long skinny legs were constantly going. He drew the water, peeled and
+washed the onions, blacked the shoes--and how _curé's_ shoes do
+shine!--rang the chapel-bell, gathered the acorns for the pig, intoned
+the Amen when his master said mass, swept and weeded the garden, snared
+the thrushes--which he cooked and eat in secret--and, dressed in a white
+surplice, carried the cross and the Viaticum, and accompanied the _curé_
+at night when on his way to offer the last consolations of religion to
+some dying poacher in the forest. These expeditions were sometimes
+across the mountains, and along the dry bed of some torrent, in which,
+according to Toby's notion, they would have certainly perished had not
+the _Bon Dieu_ been with them.
+
+But we must return to our parson's pig, which after a short skirmish was
+caught by Brigitte and her carrotty assistant; and notwithstanding his
+cries, his grunts, his gestures of despair and supplication, the inhuman
+cook, seizing his head, opened a large vein in his throat, and relieved
+him of two pounds of blood; this, with the addition of garlic, shallots,
+mint, wild thyme and parsley, was converted into a most savoury and
+delicious black-pudding for the _curé_, and his friend, and being
+served to their reverences smoking hot on the summit of a pyramid of
+yellow cabbage, figured admirably as a small Vesuvius and a centre dish.
+The surgical operation over, Brigitte, whose qualifications as a
+sempstress were superior, darned up the hole in the neck of the
+unfortunate animal, and he was then turned loose until a fresh supply of
+black-puddings should be required for a similar occasion. This wretched
+pig was never happy: how could he be so? Like Damocles of Syracuse, he
+lived in a state of perpetual fever; terror seized him directly he heard
+the _curé's_ bell, and seeing in imagination the uplifted knife already
+about to glide into his bacon, he invariably took to his heels before
+Brigitte was half way to the door to answer it.
+
+If, as usual, the peal announced a diner-out, Brigitte and Gold-button
+were soon on his track, calling him by the most tender epithets, and
+promising that he should have something nice for his supper, skim-milk,
+&c.; but the pig, with his painful experience, was not such a fool as to
+believe them; hidden behind an old cask, some faggots, or lying in a
+deep ditch, he remained silent as the grave, and kept himself close as
+long as possible.
+
+Discovered, however, he was sure to be at last, when he would rush into
+the garden, and running up and down it like a mad creature, upset
+everything in his way; for several minutes it was a regular
+steeple-chase--across the beds, now over the turnips, then through the
+gooseberry-bushes; in short, he was here, there, and everywhere; but in
+spite of all his various stratagems to escape the fatal incision, the
+poor pig always finished by being seized, tied, thrown on the ground,
+and bled: the vein was then once more cleverly sewn up, and the inhuman
+operators quietly retired from the scene to make the _curé's_ far-famed
+black-pudding. Half dead upon the spot where he was phlebotomized, the
+wretched animal was left to reflect under the shade of a tulip-tree on
+the cruelty of man, on their barbarous appetites; cursing with all his
+heart the poverty of Morvinian curates, their conceited hospitality, of
+which he was the victim, and their brutal affection for pig's blood.
+
+I shall now endeavour to give the reader a description of the curate of
+the plain; but he should clearly understand that I do not present this
+character to him as the general standard of ecclesiastical
+excellence,--quite the contrary; I am sorry to say I think it an
+exception. My sketch, therefore, applies only to those _curés_, who
+reside in a remote rural district like that of Le Morvan; I advance
+nothing that I have not seen myself, and if I should ever have the
+pleasure of meeting any of my English friends in Le Morvan, I could
+introduce them to ten _curés_ one and all similar in every respect to
+the ecclesiastic I am about to pourtray.
+
+In the interior of this district, that is to say in the midst of her
+rich plains, and in the hilly but not mountainous parts of it, the
+_curés_ are quite of another stamp; less poor than the herbivorous
+gentleman we have just described, but not so well to do as those of
+Burgundy; living under a state of things altogether peculiar to
+themselves, far from the great cities, and yet in direct communication
+with them, they are obliged by a common interest to identify themselves
+with the events of the day. Every curate of the plain possesses an
+immense influence in his parish and neighbourhood, and as at a moment
+their support may be of great use in a political point of view, the
+government, which is alive to everything, caresses, smiles on, and
+cajoles them.
+
+In the moorland districts, also, and in the little villages which border
+the great forests, the _curés_ are everything, and do everything. They
+perform the part of judge, doctor and apothecary, banker and architect,
+carpenter and schoolmaster; they give the designs for the cottages, mark
+the boundaries of estates, receive and put out the savings of their
+flocks, marry, baptize, and bury, offer consolation to the afflicted,
+encourage the unfortunate, purchase the crops, and sell a neighbour's
+vineyard. They represent the sun, by the influence of whose rays
+everything germinates and lives; it is their hand--the hand of
+justice--that arrests and heals all quarrels; the unselfish source from
+whence good counsels flow--the moral charter from which the peasant
+reads and learns the duties of a citizen.
+
+Ask not the population of our plains and forests, and secluded
+agricultural districts, to which political party they belong; if they
+are republicans, royalists, socialists or communists, reds or blues,
+whites or tricolor,--they know nothing of all this. Their
+opinions--their religion--are those of _Monsieur le Curé_. They know his
+prudence, his charity, his good sense; they know he loves them like a
+father; that he would not leave them for a bishopric--no, not for a
+cardinal's scarlet hat;--that as he has lived, so will he die with them:
+that is enough for them. Thus they consult him when they wish to form
+an opinion for themselves, much in the same way as a sportsman, anxious
+to take the field, looks up at the chanticleer on some village-steeple
+to know what he ought to think of the cloudy sky above; and when they
+see the good man sauntering past their cottages, with head erect and
+animated step, smiling, and evidently full of cheerful, charitable
+thoughts, and on good deeds intent, kissing the little children, giving
+a rosy apple to one, and a playful tap to another; offering a sly word
+of hope to the young girls, and a few kind ones to the aged and
+infirm,--all the village is elated; and the old maids fail not to
+present him with a fat fowl, or some such substantial expression of
+their respect. But if, alas! the good _curé_ should appear walking with
+a slow and solemn step, his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed upon
+the ground, and an anxious and thoughtful look upon his brow, his flock
+gaze at one another, and whisper in an under tone that something is
+amiss.
+
+At the epoch of political convulsions and revolutions, when systems and
+governments, men and ideas, arise and disappear, as if they went by
+steam,--when the authorities in the great towns wish to interfere with
+the police regulations and customs that govern the agricultural
+classes,--when they attempt to force them to gallop at full speed on the
+high road of progress as they call it, and that to attain this desirable
+end, handsome young men arrive from Paris in black coats and white
+neckcloths, furnished with a marvellous flow of eloquent sophisms,
+pretending to prove to the simple and honest peasants that in order to
+be more free, happy, and rich, they must, without further ado, kill,
+burn, and destroy,--the villagers, quite mystified, listen with open
+mouth; but as to understanding what the gentleman in black--the dark
+shadow of the government of progress--so glibly states, he might as well
+be talking Turkish or Japanese. Every one looks at _Monsieur le Curé_,
+they scan his face, and ask him what they are to do; and let him only
+feel angry or disgusted with the wordy nonsense, and just make one sign,
+or raise one finger, and 1200--aye, 2000 men would in a trice surround
+him, and send the orator and all his staff to preach their pestilential
+doctrines under the turf, and this without more ceremony and remorse
+than if they were so many mad dogs. Poor fools! who think it possible to
+change a people in a few weeks, and imagine that a fine discourse from
+lips unknown and unloved will have a deeper effect upon men's minds
+than the admonitions of a pastor, whose life has been without reproach,
+and adorned with every practical virtue.
+
+Yes, the influence exercised in our rural districts by the _curés_ is
+great, and this influence is well merited, for it is never abused--and
+never used unless for the benefit and happiness of the flock confided to
+their care. Without any motive of a personal nature, without ambition in
+any sense to which that word can apply, they preach the Catholic
+religion in all its simplicity, accepting and considering as brothers
+all those who really desire to follow the example of their Saviour
+Christ--all those who really love to do good; unworldly and unselfish,
+they would think themselves dishonoured, their reputation sullied, if
+the gown, which gives them in the eyes of the people a sacred character,
+served as a cloak, a pretext to cover a dishonourable or disgraceful
+action.
+
+It is also remarkable, and speaks volumes in their favour, that the
+bishops are almost always at war with these poor and self-denying
+_curés_, and would wish to see them take more interest in temporal
+affairs, which they do not in the least understand; they would fain put
+into their mouths the language of anger and bitter feeling, alike
+foreign to their natures and the religion of their Divine master. The
+large proprietors also, those who live on their estates and do not press
+hard upon their dependants, enjoy great consideration, and share largely
+with the _curés_ the hold they have on the affections of the people.
+They frequently direct the opinions of the masses, and, with the
+exception of their pastors, are the only class our rural population know
+and revere. As to the generality of our statesmen, good, bad, or
+indifferent, their names, brilliant as they may be, are not half so well
+known in our villages as that of the most obscure labourer, the humble
+artizan who knows how to file a saw or make a wheel.
+
+"Who is that gentleman, sir?" said a Morvinian of the plain to me one
+day, pointing to a tall thin man, with a bald head, and a pair of gold
+spectacles on his nose,--a notability of the legislative assembly who
+was going to step into the village tribune.
+
+"That gentleman?" I replied; "he is an orator."
+
+"Ah! an orator: and pray what sort of a bird is that? what is he going
+to chirrup about?"
+
+"An orator is not a bird, my good fellow; he does not sing, he makes
+very fine speeches."
+
+"And what of them?"
+
+"What of them? why they teach men their duty."
+
+"Their duty in what?" continued the peasant, with his pinching logic.
+"Is it the duty of a father, of a son, of a soldier, of a baker?"
+
+"Not at all; the duty of a citizen."
+
+"Citizen? I don't understand, sir," said the peasant.
+
+"Well, your political duties, if you like it better."
+
+"I am still none the wiser. And so this fine gentleman, with his yellow
+spectacles and bald head, is not going to tell us anything about crops,
+vineyards, planting, or sowing?"
+
+"No; but he will teach you your duty as a man, as a Frenchman, a
+citizen--a member of the great human family; he will teach you your
+rights; what you can and should demand of your government under the
+articles 199, 305, 1202, 9999 of the charter--the last charter."
+
+"Sir, I am ashamed to have troubled you; I thank you much for your
+explanation; I wish you a very good morning; for mathematics you see,
+sir, do send me to sleep, and our _curé_ will tell me all about it on
+Sunday. I shall go back to the forest, and finish my job of yesterday."
+
+And are not these simple-minded men much in the right? is not all the
+good sense on their side?--they, who living by the axe, the plough, and
+the produce of the earth, think only of their trees and their fields,
+and ask of God but health and strength to work, rain and sun to nourish
+the vines and gild their harvests. They leave to those who possess their
+confidence, because they have never deceived them, the care of their
+political interests; the care of setting and keeping them in the right
+path, and of directing them in that current of life, slow it is true,
+but which nevertheless is more effectual towards ameliorating the
+condition, and eventually increasing the happiness of the human race,
+than all the new-fangled doctrines promulgated by the statesmen and
+philosophers of France.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     The wolf--His aspect and extreme ferocity--His cunning in hunting
+     his prey--His unsocial nature--Antiquity of the race--Where found,
+     and their varieties--Annihilated in England by the perseverance of
+     the kings and people--Decrees and rewards to encourage their
+     destruction by Athelstane, John, and Edward I.--Death of the last
+     wolf in England--Death of the last in Ireland.
+
+
+The wild and furious wolf, both prudent and cowardly, is, from its
+strength and voracity, the terror and the most formidable pest of the
+inhabitants of those districts of France in which it is found. Provided
+by Nature with a craving appetite for blood, possessing great muscular
+powers, and an extraordinary scent, whether hunting or laying in ambush;
+always ready to pursue and tear its victim limb from limb, the
+wolf,--this tyrant,--this buccaneer of the forest lives only upon
+rapine, and loves nothing but carnage.
+
+The aspect of the wolf has something sinister and terrible in its
+appearance, which his sanguinary and brutal disposition does not belie.
+His head is large, his eyes sparkle with a diabolical and cannibal look,
+and in the night seem to burn like two yellow flames. His muzzle is
+black, his cheeks are hollow, the upper lip and chin white, the jaws and
+teeth are of prodigious strength, the ears short and straight, the tail
+tufty, the opening of the mouth large, and the neck so short that he is
+obliged to move his whole body in order to look on one side. His length
+in our forests, from the extreme point of the muzzle to the root of the
+tail, is generally about three feet; his height two and a half feet. The
+colour of his hair is black and red, mingled with white and gray; a
+thick and rude fur, on which the showers and severe cold of winter have
+no effect. The limbs of this animal are well set, his step is firm and
+quick, the muscles of the neck and fore part of the body are of unusual
+strength,--he will easily carry off a fat sheep in his mouth, without
+resting it on the ground, and run with it faster than the shepherd who
+flies to its rescue. His senses are delicate and sensitive in the
+extreme; that of smelling, as I have before remarked, particularly: he
+can scent his prey at an immense distance,--blood which is fresh and
+flowing will attract him at least a league from the spot. When he
+leaves the forest, he never forgets to stop on its verge; there turning
+round, he snuffs the breeze, plunges his nostrils deep into the passing
+wind, and receives through his wonderful instinct a knowledge of what is
+going on amongst the animals, dead or alive, that are in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+The declared and uncompromising enemy to almost everything that has
+life, the wolf attacks not only cows, oxen, horses, sheep, goats, and
+pigs, but also fowls and turkeys, and especially geese, for which he has
+a great fancy. In the woods also he destroys large quantities of game,
+such as fawns and roebucks; and even the wild boar himself, when young,
+is sometimes brought to his larder, for the wolf is one of that
+voracious tribe which professes a profound contempt for vegetable diet,
+and cannot do without flesh; hence the number of his devices for
+supplying his table and varying his bill of fare is astonishing. But
+mankind, it must be said in all justice, are not behindhand with him;
+they are always on the alert; they meet him with tricks as clever as his
+own, heap snare on snare to take him, and the result is that Mr. Lupus,
+in spite of his strength, his agility, his practical experience, and
+cunning instincts, often stretches out his limbs in death in the dark
+ravines of the forest--the victim of his enemy's superior intelligence.
+
+Obliged during the day to hide himself in the most solitary parts of the
+woods, he finds there only those animals whose rapid flight enables them
+to escape his clutches. Sometimes, however, after the exercise of
+prodigious patience on his part, by lying in wait the whole day, at a
+spot where he knows they will be certain to pass when the sun goes down,
+a defenceless roebuck will occasionally fall into his jaws.
+
+This chance on the sly producing nothing, when night has set in he seeks
+the open country, approaches the farms, attacks the sheepfolds,
+scratches his way under the doors, and entering wild with rage, puts
+everything to death--for, to his infernal spirit, destruction is as
+great a pleasure as the satisfaction of his hunger.
+
+When the dogs growl in an under tone, when they are restless and
+agitated, and snuff the wind as it drives in eddies through the
+shutters, "The wolf is abroad," say the peasants.
+
+If these runs in the open country by the light of the moon afford no
+supper, he returns to the depths of his lair, or takes up the scent of
+some roebuck, tracks it like a hound, and though his hope is small
+indeed of ever catching it, he perseveringly follows the trail, trusting
+that some other wolf, famished like himself, will head the timid animal
+in its flight, and seize it as it passes, and that, like staunch
+friends, they will afterwards divide the spoil between them.
+
+But the reverse more often occurs,--and foiled and disappointed, he then
+becomes, though naturally a dastard and full of fear, absolutely
+courageous; the fire of hunger consumes his stomach, he fears nothing,
+and braves every danger; all prudence is forgotten, and his natural
+ferocity is wound up to such a pitch, that he hesitates not to meet
+certain destruction, attacks the animals that are actually under the
+care of man, man himself,--throws himself suddenly upon the poor
+benighted traveller, and gliding slowly and softly, with the stealthy
+movements of a serpent, seizes and carries off with him to the depth of
+the forest the infant sleeping in its cradle, or the little, helpless,
+innocent child which, ignorant of danger, laughs and plays at the
+cottage-door.
+
+Unsociable as well as savage, with a heart harder than the ball which
+drills the ghastly hole in his side, loving only himself and his dark
+solitudes, the wolf never associates with its own kind; and when, by
+accident, it happens that a few are seen together, be sure the meeting
+is not a Peace Congress, or a party of pleasure. The assembled wolves
+represent a society of reds, preparing the arrangements for a combat, in
+which many a stream of blood shall flow, amidst the most fearful and
+horrible cries. If a wolf intends to attack a large animal,--for
+instance, an ox or a horse,--or if he desires to put a watch-dog, whose
+strength disquiets him, or whose vigilance incommodes him, out of his
+way, he roves about the lonely paths of the forest, raising a sharp
+prolonged cry, which immediately attracts other wolves in the
+neighbourhood; and when he finds himself surrounded by a numerous troop
+of his colleagues, bound together by no other tie than the common object
+they all have in view for the moment, he conducts them to the attack,
+and should the farmer be not there to out-manoeuvre them, it will be
+odd indeed if the animal that they have agreed to destroy does not fall
+a victim to their plans. The expedition over, the valiant brotherhood
+separate, and each returns in silence to his thicket, whence they emerge
+to reunite, when slaughter and blood call them forth again to make
+common cause.
+
+Wolves attain their full size in three years, and live from fifteen to
+twenty; their hair, like that of man, grows gray with years, and like
+him also they lose their teeth, but without the advantage of being able
+to replace them; the race of wolves is as old as the flood,--even older,
+for their bones have been found in antediluvian remains. They are found
+in all countries on the New Continent as well as the Old. "They exist,"
+observes Cuvier, "in Asia, Africa, and America, as well as in Europe;
+from Egypt to Lapland; everywhere, in fact, excepting in England." How
+an animal so detestable and so universally hated should have continued
+to perpetuate itself, when every other species of savage beast on the
+face of the earth diminishes in an infinitely greater proportion, is a
+problem difficult to solve.
+
+Fourrier, in his "_Théorie Harmonique et comparative des espèces_,"
+remarks truly, that each species of the human race corresponds with some
+species of the brute creation. The wolves in the forest represent the
+Jews in the towns; and he asserts, that it being possible only to
+compare the voracity of the one with the rapacity of the other, these
+two races, which are identical by reason of their several
+characteristics, will never perish, never become extinct, except
+together. But the Jews decline to acknowledge the relationship thus
+assumed and the paradoxical connexion between themselves and this race
+of animals; they deny that the idiosyncrasies are in any degree similar,
+and persist in placing this luminous idea of Fourrier's on a level with
+that of the sea of lemonade, which will, according to the same author,
+one day surround our planet.
+
+The bones and teeth of wolves are often discovered, as I have already
+said, amongst the _débris_ of the antediluvian world.
+
+In the Holy Scriptures, too, there are several observations respecting
+the wolf,--in them it is stated that he lives upon rapine, is violent,
+cruel, bloody, crafty, and voracious; he seeks his prey by night, and
+his sense of smell is wonderful. False teachers are described as wolves
+in sheep's clothing; and the Prophet Habakkuk, speaking of the
+Chaldeans, says, "Their horses are more fierce than the evening wolves."
+And again, Isaiah, describing the peaceful reign of the Messiah,
+writes,--"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
+shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the
+fatling together, and a little child shall lead them."
+
+The wolf varies in shape and colour, according to the country in which
+it lives. In Asia, towards Turkey, this animal is reddish; in Italy,
+quite red; in India, the one called the beriah is described as being of
+a light cinnamon colour; yellow wolves, with a short black mane along
+the entire spine, are found in the marshes of all the hot and temperate
+regions of America. The fur of the Mexican wolf is one of the richest
+and most valuable known. In the regions of the north the wolf is black,
+and sometimes black and gray: others are quite white; but the black wolf
+is always the fiercest. The black is also found in the south of Europe,
+and particularly in the Pyrennees. Colonel Hamilton Smith relates an
+anecdote illustrative of its great size and weight. At a _battue_ in the
+mountains near Madrid, one of these wolves, which came bounding through
+the high grass towards an English gentleman who was present, was so
+large that he mistook it for a donkey; and whatever visions of a ride
+home might have floated across his brain for the moment, right glad was
+he on discovering his error, to see his ball take immediate effect.
+
+In former days, the Spanish wolves congregated in large packs in the
+passes of the Pyrennees; and even now the _lobo_ will follow a string of
+mules, as soon as it becomes dusk, keeping parallel with them as they
+proceed, leaping from bush and rock, waiting his opportunity to select a
+victim. Black wolves also are found in the mountains of Friuli and
+Cattaro; the Vekvoturian wolf of Siberia, described by Pallas, is one of
+the darkest variety. In Persia and in India wolves are trained and made
+to play tricks and antics as monkeys and dogs are in Europe. At Teheran,
+Bankok, and Arracan, a well-trained wolf that can dance a polka of the
+country, sing a national air, and preserve a grave face during five
+minutes, with a pair of spectacles on his nose, will fetch as much as
+500 dollars.
+
+"In China," remarks Colonel Smith, "wolves abound in the northern
+province of Shantung;" and Buffon, quoting from Adanson, asserts, that
+"there is a powerful species of the wolf in Bengal, which hunt in packs,
+in company with the lion." "One night," says Adanson, "a lion and a wolf
+entered the court of the house in which I slept, and unperceived,
+carried off my provisions; in the morning my hosts were quite satisfied,
+from the well-marked and well-known impressions of their feet in the
+sand, that the animals had come together to forage." Colonel Smith
+observes, that "the French wolves are generally browner and somewhat
+stronger than those of Germany, with an appearance far more wild and
+savage: the Russian are larger, and seem more bulky and formidable, from
+the great quantity of long coarse hair that cover them on the neck and
+cheeks."
+
+"The Swedish and Norwegian are," he says, "similar to the Russian; but
+appear deeper and heavier in the shoulder; they are also lighter in
+colour, and in winter become completely white. The Alpine wolves are
+yellowish, and smaller than the French. This is the type of wolf that is
+commonly found in the western countries of Europe; and it was, in all
+probability, this species that once infested the wild and extensive
+woodland districts of the British Islands; for that wolves were once
+exceedingly numerous in England, is as certain as that the bear formerly
+prowled in Wales and Scotland, and with the former was the terror of the
+inhabitants. How dangerous to them, and how very common they must have
+been, is evident from the necessity that existed in the reign of
+Athelstane, 925, for erecting on the public highway a refuge against
+their attacks. A retreat was built at Flixton, in Yorkshire, to protect
+travellers against these ravenous brutes. King John, in a grant quoted
+by Pennant, from Bishop Littleton's collection, mentions the wolf as one
+of the beasts of the chase that, despite the severe forest laws of the
+feudal system, the Devonshire men were permitted to kill. Even in the
+reign of the first Edward, they were still so numerous that he applied
+himself in earnest to their extirpation, and enlisting criminals into
+the service, commuted their punishment for a given number of wolves'
+tongues;--he also permitted the Welsh to redeem the tax he imposed upon
+them, by an annual tribute of 300 of these horrid animals."
+
+That Edward, however, failed in his attempt to extirpate them, is
+evident from a _mandamus_ of that monarch's successor, to all bailiffs
+and legal officers of the realm, to give aid and assistance to his
+faithful and well-beloved Peter Corbet, whom the King had appointed to
+take and destroy wolves (_lupos_) in all forests, parks, and other
+places in the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, and Salop,
+wherever they could be found. In Derbyshire, certain tenants of lands,
+at Wormhill, held them on condition that they should hunt the wolves
+that harboured in that county. The flocks of Scotland appear to have
+suffered a great deal from the ravages of wolves in 1577, and they were
+not finally rooted out of that portion of the island till about the year
+1686, when the hand of Sir Evan Cameron made the last of them bite the
+dust.
+
+Wolves were seen in Ireland as late as the year 1710, about which time
+the last presentment for killing them was found in the county of Cork.
+The Saxon name for the month of January, "wolf-moneth," in which dreary
+season the famished beasts became probably more desperate; and the term
+for an outlaw, "wolfshed," implying that he might be killed with as much
+impunity as a wolf, indicate how numerous wolves were in those times,
+and the terror and hatred they inspired. In every country the
+inhabitants have declared this ferocious brute the enemy of man; and in
+order, if possible, to annihilate him, have employed every device;--the
+result in England has been most satisfactory. The Esquimaux, that
+distant and half-frozen people, have their own peculiar way of trapping
+wolves; and it is somewhat singular that their ice wolf-trap, as
+described by Captain Lyon, resembles exactly, except in the material of
+which it is made, that of France, though it is very certain no Morvinian
+ever went so far as the Melville peninsula to take a hunting lesson from
+an Esquimaux. The very birds of prey, those flying thieves of the air,
+are used for wolf-hunting amongst some of the savage nations of the
+earth. The Kaissoks take them with the help of a large sort of hawk,
+called a _beskat_, which is trained to fly at and fasten on their heads,
+and tear their eyes out; and the Grand Khan of Tartary has eagles tamed
+and trained to the sport in the same way as we have our packs to hunt
+the roebuck and wild boar.
+
+In the sombre forests of the Nivernais and Burgundy, where wolves are
+still numerous, and where they occasion the farmers great loss by the
+destruction of their cattle, they are destroyed in every way imaginable.
+General _battues_ are held, and private hunting parties meet, a
+multitude of traps set, pits dug, the sportsman and the peasant lie in
+wait for them, and dogs and cats, well stuffed with deadly poison, are
+placed near their haunts in the thick underwood. Nevertheless, and in
+spite of all these crafty inventions and open war with them, the wolves
+scarcely diminish in number; they still present the same formidable
+phalanx, and seem determined to defy their destroyers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     The _battues_ of May and December--The gathering of
+     sportsmen--Distribution in the forest--The _charivari_--The fatal
+     rush--Excitement of the moment--The volley--The day's triumph, and
+     the reward--The peasants returning--Hunting the wolf with
+     dogs--Cub-hunting--The drunken wolf.
+
+
+In the first days of May, that interesting epoch in which in the forest,
+the woods, and the plain, the majority of all animals are with young;
+and in the commencement of December, the period of storm and tempest and
+the heavy rains, which precede the great snows, two general _battues_
+take place in Le Morvan. To these all the tribe of sportsmen--the good,
+the bad, and the indifferent--are invited; in short, every one in the
+neighbourhood who loves excitement attends. Gentlemen, poachers, and
+_gens-d'armes_, young conscripts and old soldiers, doctors and
+schoolmasters, every one who is the fortunate possessor of a gun, a
+carbine, a pistol, a sabre, a bayonet, or any other weapon, presents
+himself at the rendezvous. Bands of peasants, also, armed with
+bludgeons, spears, broomsticks, cymbals, bells, frying-pans, sauce-pans,
+and fire-irons (it is impossible to make too much noise on the
+occasion), arrive from every point of the compass, and add their numbers
+to those already assembled. On the day agreed upon, therefore, and at
+the spot indicated, a small army is on foot, which, full of ardour and
+thirsting for the combat, brandish with shouts their various weapons and
+kitchen utensils, drink to the success of the enterprise, and wait with
+no little impatience the signal to place themselves in march, and attack
+the enemy. The commander of these assembled forces,--generally the head
+ranger of the forest,--having under his orders a battalion of sub
+_gardes-de-chasse_, directs their movements.
+
+This mode of taking the wolf is conducted with very great order and
+circumspection; everything is well arranged beforehand; the ravines and
+deep underwood, which the wolves are known to resort to, have been
+carefully ascertained; the number of guns and rifles necessary to
+surround this or that wood are told off, and the whole plan is so well
+prepared, the execution of it is so prompt, every one is so well aware
+of what he has to do, that in one day a large tract of country is
+carefully beaten.
+
+In these _battues_, those who have fire-arms form two sides of a
+triangle, and are placed with their backs to the wind, along the roads
+which border the wood the _traqueurs_ are about to beat. On no account
+ought they to fire to their rear, but always to the front; and in order
+to prevent, in this respect, misunderstanding and accident, the _garde_,
+whose duty it is to place each sportsman at his post, breaks a branch,
+or cuts a notch in the tree before him, in order that in a moment of
+hesitation and excitement this broken bough or barked spot may remind
+him of his real position. The base of the triangle or the cord of the
+arc (for this curved line had more the shape of a great bow slightly
+strung than any other geometrical figure) is formed of the peasants,
+who, side by side, wait only for the last signal to advance, when they
+commence their euphonious concert--a _charivari_ not to be described.
+
+The arrangements and preparations, conducted in profound silence, being
+terminated, the signal is given, when the tumult, which at once breaks
+forth, produces intense excitement. The forest, hitherto silent, and
+apparently without life, is suddenly awakened with confused noises,
+metallic and human--the peasants shout, halloo, sing, and bang together
+their pots, kettles, and pieces of iron, striking every bush and thicket
+with their staves, and scaring every animal before them. Flights of
+wood-pigeons, coveys of partridges, birds of every size, species, and
+plumage, pass like moving shadows above their heads. The owls, too,
+suddenly aroused from sleep, leave their dark holes, and, blinded by the
+light, fly against the branches in their alarm with cries of
+terror--probably imagining the order of night and day is reversed, and
+that the unusual and unearthly noises proclaim that the end of the world
+has arrived for the owls. Then come the roebuck and the foxes, bounding
+and breaking through the underwood, and the hares and rabbits, which
+jump up under the feet of the beaters.
+
+Motionless as a mile-stone at your post, and rifle ready, this flying
+legion of animals gives you a twinge of impatience, for you must allow
+them a free passage, as in these _battues_ one dare not fire at
+anything, save and except the great object of the day, the wolf. Wolves
+alone have the honour on these important occasions of receiving the
+contents of your double-barrel. But the cowards, divining what is in
+preparation for them, are the last to show themselves; as the line
+advances, they trot up and down the portion of the wood thus enclosed,
+seeking for an outlet, or some break in the line; and they never make up
+their minds to advance to the front until the tempest of sounds behind
+them is almost ringing in their ears. But now the thunder of voices,
+till then distant, approaches, and the cries and hallooing of the
+peasants, like a flowing tide, forces them to draw nearer to the
+huntsmen.
+
+Whether or no, that fatal line must now be passed, and the few minutes
+that precede the last movement of the wolves towards it brings to every
+sportsman sensations impossible to describe. He knows the brutes are in
+his rear, approaching, and a feeling like an electric current runs at
+this exciting moment from one to the other; every man's finger is on his
+trigger, his pulse throbs at a feverish pace, his heart beats like the
+clapper of a bell in full swing--all, to take a surer aim, kneel, or
+place their back against the nearest tree, and each offers up a prayer
+for aid to his patron saint. This nervous moment has sometimes such an
+effect upon ardent and excitable imaginations, that I have observed many
+young sportsmen look very queer, some actually tremble and one shed
+tears. But the _traqueurs_ are at hand, and the largest and boldest of
+the wolves, placing themselves in front, are preparing for the fatal
+rush--one more _charivari_ from the peasants and their sauce-pans
+decides them, when the whole troop bound forward, yelling and howling
+upon the line, in passing which a storm of balls and buck-shot salute
+and assail them in their course.
+
+The death of from thirty to forty wolves is generally the result of the
+day's exertions, without counting the wounded, which always escape in
+greater or less numbers. The Government give a reward of twenty francs
+for every wolf, and twenty-five for every she-wolf, and these sums being
+immediately divided amongst the peasants, they return to their homes not
+a little pleased, singing their old hunting ballads, stopping
+occasionally by the way at some village inn for a glass, where they may
+be seen cutting capers, with the true peasant notions of the dance. On a
+fine day, with the blue sky above, the forest breathing perfume, and the
+sun shedding over it its golden rays, the passing game, the distant
+halloo! of the _traqueurs_, the gun-shots which suddenly rattle around
+you, the watching for and first view of the wolves, put the head and the
+heart in such a state of excitement, as once felt can never be
+forgotten. The May and December _battues_ are, therefore, looked forward
+to with immense impatience; and nothing short of sudden death, or an
+injured limb, prevents the country-people from hastening with alacrity
+to the rendezvous.
+
+Wolves are likewise hunted all the year round, with dogs, by gentlemen,
+in the neighbourhood of the forest. But this sport is very fatiguing and
+weary work, if that animal alone is employed; for nothing is so
+difficult as to get up with a cunning old wolf, whose sinewy limbs never
+tire, and whose wind never fails--who goes straight ahead, ten or
+fifteen miles, without looking behind him; if he meets with a _Mare_, or
+stream of water on his road, then your chance is indeed up,--for into it
+he plunges, and makes off again, quite as fresh as he was when he left
+his lair.
+
+The best and most expeditious mode of taking a wolf is, to set a
+bloodhound on him, bred expressly for this particular sport; large
+greyhounds being placed in ambush, at proper distances, and slipped,
+when the wolf makes his appearance in crossing from one wood to another.
+These dogs, by their superior swiftness, are soon at his haunches, and
+worry and impede his flight, until their heavy friend the hound comes
+up; for the strongest greyhound could never manage a wolf, unless he was
+assisted in his meritorious work by dogs of large size and superior
+strength. The huntsmen, well mounted, follow and halloo on the hounds;
+every one runs, every one shouts, the forest echoes their cries, and
+wolf, dogs, and sportsmen pass and disappear like leaves in a whirlwind,
+or the demon hounds and huntsmen of the Hartz. And now the panting
+beast, with hair on end and foaming at the mouth, bitten in every part,
+is brought to bay--his hour is come--no longer able to fly, he sets his
+back against some rock or tree, and faces his numerous enemies.
+
+It is then that the oldest huntsman of the party, in order to shorten
+his death-agony, and save the dogs from unnecessary wounds, dismounts,
+and, drawing a pistol from his hunting-belt, finishes his career before
+further mischief is done. When a ball hits a wolf and breaks one of his
+bones, he immediately gives a yell; but if he is dispatched with sticks
+and bludgeons, he makes no complaint. Stubborn, and apparently either
+insensible or resolute, Nature seems to have given him great powers of
+endurance in suffering pain. Having lost all hope of escape, he ceases
+to cry and complain; he remains on the defensive, bites in silence, and
+dies as he has lived. In a sheepfold the noise of his teeth while
+indulging his appetite is like the repeated crack of a whip. His bite is
+terrible.
+
+The months of September and October, the period for cub-hunting, afford
+capital sport. The young wolves are not like the old ones, strong enough
+to take a straight course, and they consequently can rarely do more than
+run a ring; when tired, which is soon the case, they retire backwards
+into some hole or under a large stone, where they show their teeth and
+await, with a juvenile courage worthy of a better fate, the onset of
+their assailants. The mode of separating the cubs from their mother,
+who, with maternal tenderness (for that feeling exists even in a wolf),
+always offers to sacrifice her life for her young, is by turning loose
+two or three bloodhounds. These first distract her attention, and then
+pursue her so closely that at last she thinks it prudent to decamp, and
+seek safety in flight; when these dogs have fairly got her away, and
+their deep music dies away in the distance, others are laid on the scent
+of the cubs, and the sport ceases only with the death of the litter. A
+young wolf may be tamed; but it is not wise to place much confidence in
+his civilization: with age he resumes his nature, becomes ferocious, and
+sooner or later, should the occasion present itself, will return to his
+native woods;--for as water always flows towards the river, so the wolf
+always returns to his kind.
+
+In the summer, the wolves, like the gypsies, have no fixed residence;
+they may then be met with in the standing barley or oats, the vineyards
+and fields; they sleep in the open country, and seldom seek the friendly
+shelter of the forest, except during the most scorching hours of the
+day. Towards the end of August I have often met them in the vineyards,
+apparently half drunk, scarcely able to walk, in short, quite unsteady
+on their legs, almost ploughing the ground up with their noses, and
+staring stupidly about them. Every well-kept vineyard ought to be as
+free from stones as possible, and therefore the peasants, when they
+weed, dig a trench about the vines, or prune them, always remove at the
+same time whatever stones or flints they may meet with; these are piled
+at the end of the vineyard in a heap of about twenty feet square and six
+feet high, called a _meurger_.
+
+On these _meurgers_ the breezes of summer waft every description of
+seed, and they are consequently soon covered with verdure, shrubs,
+brambles, and wild roses, which from a distance give them the appearance
+of a small copse or thicket. These elevated and shady spots are the
+favourite retreats of game in the middle of the day; here they love to
+repose and take their _siesta_ in the cool--here the red partridges meet
+to have a gossip--hither the young rabbits scuttle to recover their
+various alarms, and the trembling hare also squats and conceals herself
+the moment a dog or a gun appears in the adjoining vineyard. Of course
+these green mounds have a corresponding value in the eyes of the
+sportsmen, who always find in them something to put up.
+
+Often, therefore, walking gently on the soft ground, have I stolen to
+one of these _meurgers_, and throwing in a stone, generally turned out
+some partridges and rabbits that were there quietly ensconced; I have
+also, and greatly to my surprise, heard there the growl of a wolf,
+which, rising lazily amongst the bushes, stumbled and fell, and was
+evidently incapable of getting further. A salute from both barrels, with
+small shot, scarcely tickled his skin; but it brought him once more on
+his legs, though only to fall again,--when, having reloaded, I advanced
+on him and administered a double dose in his ear, which had the desired
+effect. The fact was, he was quite drunk, though not disorderly.
+
+These wolves, during the ardent heats of August, suffer dreadfully from
+thirst; and finding no water, take to the vineyards, and endeavour to
+assuage it by eating large quantities of grapes, very cool, and no doubt
+very delightful at the time; but the treacherous juice ferments,
+Bacchanalian fumes soon infect their brain, and for several hours these
+gentlemen are for a time entirely deprived of their senses. What a field
+for Father Mathew; but never, I am certain, has the worthy Apostle of
+Temperance ever dreamed of offering the pledge to the wolves of Le
+Morvan--the rub would be to hang the medal round the necks of these
+Bacchanals of the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+     Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement--The _Traquenard_--Mode of
+     setting this trap--A night in the forest with Navarre--The young
+     lover--Dreadful accident that befell him--His courage and efforts
+     to escape--The fatal catastrophe--The poor mad mother.
+
+
+Wolf-hunting in the forests is an expensive amusement, whether they are
+killed by the method I have described,--namely, of employing beaters,
+and shooting them when breaking through the line of sportsmen, or
+running them down with dogs. The peasants and _traqueurs_ have to be
+paid, in the first case; hunters and hounds have to be purchased and
+maintained, in the second, without counting the innumerable incidental
+expenses which a kennel of hounds always brings in its train. This kind
+of establishment is too extravagant for our country-gentlemen, and thus
+it is that for one wolf killed in the great meetings, or with the dogs,
+thirty are taken in pits and snares, or by some species of stratagem.
+
+Every small farmer or large proprietor, to protect his family and his
+cattle,--every shepherd, to protect himself and his flock, invokes to
+his aid the genius of strategy; and as the mind of man is a sponge full
+of expedients, from which once pressed by the hard fingers of necessity
+many an ingenious device is extracted, innumerable are the various
+seductive baits that in our plains and forests are placed in the way of
+the gluttonous appetite of the wolf; and I shall now describe the
+inventions that are more generally adopted.
+
+The favourite trap employed in Le Morvan is the _Traquenard_. This is
+the most dangerous, and the strongest that is made, requiring two men to
+set it; it has springs of great power, which once touched, the jaws of
+the trap close with tremendous force. Each jaw, formed of a circle of
+iron, four or five feet in circumference, is furnished along its whole
+length with teeth shaped like those of a saw, but less sharp, which shut
+one within the other. To these redoubtable engines of destruction is
+attached an iron chain, six feet in length, and at the other end of it
+is a bar of iron with hooks; these hooks or grapnel, which catch at
+everything that comes in their way, impede the escape of the wolf when
+once seized, and prevent him from going any great distance from the spot
+where he has been caught. The trap should not be tied or fixed in any
+way, for then the wolf would probably in his first bound, his first
+frantic movement of terror, either break some part of it, or in his
+violent endeavours to escape, succeed, only leaving a leg behind him.
+
+In placing the trap and chain, a little earth is taken away, so that
+both are on a level with the turf; after which, the jaws being opened,
+they are covered with leaves in as natural a manner as possible. Great
+care must be taken by the person who sets the trap that he does not
+touch it with his naked hand; this should invariably be done with a
+glove on, otherwise the wolf--always extremely difficult to catch by
+reason of his delicate sense of smell--would be awakened to his danger.
+The mode of taking the wolf by means of the _Traquenard_, is as
+follows:--A spot having been selected in the depths of the forest, and
+in a sombre pathway unfrequented by the beasts of prey, the trap is set
+about an hour before the sun goes down, and a dog, young pig, a sheep,
+or some other animal which has been dead a few days, is divided into
+five parts; one of the portions is suspended to the lower branch of the
+tree, under which the trap is set; and the other four, being each
+attached to a withe or the band of a faggot,--not rope, for in that the
+wolf detects the hand of man, and he hates the smell of the
+material,--are drawn by men along the ground in the direction of the
+four points of the compass. These men are mounted either on horseback,
+or on an ass, or they put on a pair of _sabots_ and walk, each of them
+dragging after him, through the wood and along the unfrequented paths,
+his portion of the bait, stopping every now and then to let the soil
+over which it passes be as much as possible impregnated with the smell
+of the flesh on the verge of corruption.
+
+The _traineur_ should always walk as much as possible through those
+parts of the forest that are the clearest of underwood, for in these
+spots the wolf is least on his guard; and when he has thus traversed
+from 2,500 to 3,000 paces--the distance required in order to give the
+animal, (who will at first follow his track with caution and even
+suspicion,) time to regain his confidence--he stops, throws the bait
+over his shoulder, and walks home, leaving the result to chance, and the
+hunger of the savage game. When four or five other traps have been set
+for the same night, in a radius of three or four miles thus prepared, it
+rarely happens that some of these various lines--which intersect each
+other on every side and in every direction, taking in a considerable
+surface of ground--are not hit upon during the night by the roving
+wolves: and be sure that each wolf whose olfactories discern the scented
+line, and who at length arrives at the trap, is a wolf taken.
+
+Well do I remember the fever of impatience with which I was seized, the
+first time I was present at the preparations for this sport, and the
+desire I had to know what would be the result of our machinations; so
+much so, indeed, that the arrangement being completed, I positively
+refused to return to the _château_;--climbing into a thick tree, distant
+about a hundred paces from the trap, I passed the whole night there on
+the watch, shivering in my jacket, sitting astride upon one branch, my
+feet on another, and Navarre at my side. Poor Navarre! he had in the
+beginning of the evening brought all his astronomical knowledge to bear
+upon me, with a view of proving that the night would be terribly
+unwholesome; that we should have a furious hurricane and be deluged with
+rain, blinded by the lightning, and terrified by the thunder; and that,
+in the way of eating and a cordial, the only thing he had in his
+game-bag was a sorry piece of black bread, hard enough to break the
+tooth of a boar. I had a stiff tustle with him before he gave in; but
+finding he could not damp the burning curiosity which devoured me, and
+that my ears were deaf to the somewhat rough music of his reasoning and
+his predictions, the worthy man at length closed the fountain of his
+eloquence, and, though growling and mumbling in an under tone at my
+juvenile obstinacy, which had deprived him of his bed and his supper,
+quietly took his seat in the tree; then drawing from the bottom of his
+pocket some tobacco and a short pipe--his consolation in his greatest
+misfortunes--he whiffed away, burying his irritated countenance in his
+breast by way of showing his vexation.
+
+It seems to me but yesterday these eight hours passed in the forest in
+the silence of that starlight night, hid in the branches, and waiting
+for the wolves! We caught three, and nine galloped under the very oak in
+which we were seated. This midnight scene was exciting beyond
+description; and the worthy Navarre, notwithstanding his pipe, his
+fox-skin cap, and his goat-skin riding-coat, caught such a melancholy
+cold, that he did nothing but sneeze and hoop the whole of the next day,
+making more noise than all the dogs and cattle in the farm put together.
+
+Wolf-hunting with traps has its dangers and its inconveniences, and the
+_Traquenard_ must be used with great caution. Every morning it should be
+visited and shut; otherwise a man, a horse, a dog, or some other animal,
+may fall into it, and be taken. In order, therefore, as much as possible
+to prevent accidents, our peasants, farmers, and poachers, when using
+this kind of trap, always tie stones, or little pieces of dead wood, to
+the bushes and branches of the trees near the spot in which it is set;
+they likewise place the same kind of signal at the extremity of the
+pathway which leads to the trap, as a warning to those who may walk that
+way; and the peasants, who know what these signals dancing in the air
+with every puff of wind mean, turn aside, and take very good care how
+they proceed on their road.
+
+In spite of all these precautions, however, very sad occurrences will
+sometimes happen in our forests. Some years ago a trap was placed in a
+deserted footway, and the usual precautions were taken of hanging stones
+and bits of wood in the approach to the path at either end. The same
+day, a young man of the neighbourhood, full of love and imprudence--upon
+the eve, in fact, of being entangled in the conjugal "I will"--anxious
+to present to his _fiancée_ some turtle-doves and pigeons with rosy
+beaks, with whose whereabouts he was acquainted, left his home a little
+before sunset to surprise the birds on their nest; but he was late, the
+night closed in rapidly, and with the intention of shortening the road,
+instead of following the beaten one he took his way across the forest.
+Without in the least heeding the brambles and bushes which caught his
+legs, or the ditches and streams he was obliged to cross, he pressed on;
+and after a continued and sanguinary battle with the thorns, the stumps,
+the roots, and the long wild roses, came exactly on the path where the
+trap was set. The night was now nearly dark, and, in his agitation and
+hurry, thinking only of his doves and the loved one, he failed to
+observe that several little pieces of string were swinging to and fro in
+the breeze from the branches of a thicket near him. Dreadful indeed was
+it for him that he did not; for suddenly he felt a terrible shock,
+accompanied by most intense pain, the bones of his leg being apparently
+crushed to pieces--he was caught in the wolf-trap!
+
+The first few moments of pain and suffering over, comprehending at once
+the danger of his position, he with great presence of mind collected all
+the strength he had, and by a determined effort endeavoured to open the
+serrated iron jaws which held him fast: but though despair is said to
+double the strength of a man, the trap refused to give up its prey; and
+as at the least movement the iron teeth buried themselves deeper and
+deeper with agonizing pain into his leg, and grated nearly on the bone,
+his sufferings became so intense that in a very few minutes he ceased
+from making any further attempts to release himself. Feeling this to be
+the case, he began to shout for help, but no one replied; and as the
+night drew in he was silent, fearing that his cries would attract the
+notice of some of the wolves that might be prowling in the
+neighbourhood, and resolved to wait patiently and with fortitude what
+fate willed--what he could not avert. He had under his coat a little
+hatchet, a weapon which the Morvinians constantly carry about with them,
+and thus in the event of his being attacked by the dreaded animals, he
+trusted to it to defend himself; but he was still not without hope that
+the wolves would not make their appearance.
+
+The night lengthened; the moon rose, and shed her pale light over the
+forest. Immovable, with eyes and ears on the _qui vive_, his body in the
+most dreadful agony, he listened and waited: when, all at once,
+far--very far off, a confused murmur of indistinct sounds was heard.
+Approaching with rapidity, these murmurs became cries and yells; they
+were those of wolves--and not only wolves, but wolves on the track,
+which must ere a few minutes could elapse be upon him. A pang of horror,
+and a cold perspiration poured from his face;--but fear was not a part
+of his nature, and by almost superhuman efforts, and, in such an awful
+moment, forgetting all pain, he dragged himself and the trap towards an
+oak tree, against which he placed his back.
+
+Here leaning with his left hand upon a stout staff he had with him when
+he fell, and having in his right his hatchet ready to strike, the young
+man, full of courage, after having offered up a short prayer to his God,
+and embraced, as it were, in his mind his poor old mother and his bride,
+awaited the horrible result, determined to show himself a true child of
+the forest, and meet his fate like a man. A few minutes more, and he was
+as if surrounded by a cordon of yellow flames, which, like so many
+Will-o'-the-wisps, danced about in all directions. These were the eyes
+of the monsters; the animals themselves, which he could not see, sent
+forth their horrible yells full in his face, and the smell of their
+horrid carcases was borne to him on the wind. Alas! the _denouément_ of
+the tragedy approached. The wolves had hit upon the scented line of
+earth, and following it; hungry and enraged, were bounding here and
+there, and exciting each other. They had arrived at the baited spot....
+
+What passed after this no one can tell--no eye saw but His above: but on
+the following morning when the Père Séguin, for he was the unfortunate
+person who set the _Traquenard_, came to examine it, he found the trap
+at the foot of the oak deluged with blood, the bone of a human leg
+upright between the iron teeth, and all around, scattered about the turf
+and the path, a quantity of human remains: bits of hair, bones,--red and
+moist, as if the flesh had been but recently torn from them,--shreds of
+a coat, and other articles of clothing were also discovered near the
+spot; with the assistance of some dogs that were put on the scent, three
+wolves, their heads and bodies cut open with a hatchet, were found dying
+in the adjacent thickets. The bones of their victim were carried to the
+nearest church; and on the following day these mournful fragments, which
+had only a few hours before been full of life and youth and health, were
+committed to the earth.
+
+When the venerated _curé_ of the village, after previously endeavouring
+in every possible way by Christian exhortation to prepare his aged
+mother to hear the sad tale, informed her that these remnants of
+humanity was all that was left of her boy, she laughed--alas! it was the
+laugh of madness--reason had fled! Many a time have I met the aged
+creature strolling in a glade of the forest, or seated basking in the
+sun outside the door of her cottage. Her complexion was of the yellow
+paleness of some old parchment, she was always laughing and
+singing--always rocking in her arms a log of wood, a hank of hemp, or
+bundle of fern--objects which to her poor crazy eyes represented her
+child;--her child as it was in its tender years: she called it by his
+name, she kissed, embraced and dandled it, rocked it on her knees; and
+when she thought it should be tired, sang those lullabies which had
+soothed the slumbers of him who was now no more. I have witnessed the
+horrors of war, I have heard many a tragic story, but never has my heart
+been more touched with feelings of profound grief than the day on which
+I first met this poor creature--this widowed mother, then seventy years
+of age--singing and walking in the forest, carrying and dandling in her
+shrivelled arms a shawl rolled up; kissing and talking to the silent
+bundle, smiling on it,--sitting at the foot of a tree, and opening that
+bosom in which the springs of life had for years been dried, to nurse
+and nourish once more what seemed to her still her baby boy.
+
+The morning after the dreadful catastrophe of which I have just spoken,
+the path in which this terrible tragedy took place was closed, and trees
+were planted along its length, so that no person could in future pass
+that way. But the Père Séguin has often shown me the oak, at the foot of
+which during that fearful night the young peasant suffered such agonies,
+made such incredible efforts, and drew with such indomitable courage his
+last breath. This tree is still called by the peasants, "The Widow's
+Oak," or, "The Oak of the Wolves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+     Shooting wolves in the summer--The most approved baits to attract
+     them--Fatal error--Hut-shooting--Silent joviality--The approach of
+     the wolves--The first volley--The retreat--The final slaughter--The
+     sportsman's reward--The farm-yard near St. Hibaut--The dead
+     colt--The onset--Scene in the morning--Horrible accident--The
+     gallant farmer--Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant--The
+     wolf-skin drum--Anathema of the naturalists.
+
+
+When the sportsman does not absolutely care about sleeping in his own
+bed, and will not be denied the pleasure of shooting a wolf himself, a
+drag is run similar to those we have already mentioned, but other parts
+of the proceedings are conducted in a manner widely different. In the
+first place, there is no trap; then, instead of the piece of flesh, the
+great attraction, being put in an obscure and hidden path, it should, on
+the contrary, be placed in an open spot, on the border of a wood, in a
+glade, or in a field on the verge of the forest, in order that the
+sportsman who is laying in wait, in ambush, may be able to see what is
+passing; he must, too, conceal himself as much as possible, either in a
+thicket under the foliage, in a hut made with the boughs of trees, or
+in a hole dug in the ground; but he should always be so placed that he
+is against the wind, and if the moon is up he ought to take especial
+care that he is in the shade.
+
+But it sometimes happens that the sportsman, at a moment when there is
+no time to run a drag,--for instance, after dinner when smoking a cigar,
+he suddenly takes it into his head to kill a wolf, and it is too late to
+bait the spot; nevertheless the hunter will have nothing less than his
+wolf. Before leaving home, therefore, he orders his servant to bring him
+a duck; this he puts into his pocket, and shouldering his gun, seeks the
+depths of the forest alone. Having found a favourable spot,--a place
+where four roads meet is that, if possible, generally chosen,--he hangs
+the unfortunate duck by the leg to the branch of a neighbouring tree,
+which, as if divining the part that he is intended to play in the piece,
+flaps his wings, and begins to cry and quack most vehemently.
+
+Extraordinary as it may appear, it is well known that the cries of the
+duck and the goose are those most readily heard by a wolf, and
+consequently it is by no means a rare occurrence to see one of these
+animals arrive. An unweaned lamb, which is always bleating for its
+mother, is also an excellent decoy-bait to attract them.
+
+In the months of May and June, when the sportsman happens to tumble upon
+a she-wolf, the cubs of which are suckling, a drag may be run with one
+of them; the mother will for certain follow the track, and, if you are
+not properly on your guard, and well prepared to receive her, it is
+equally certain she will play you a very unpleasant trick, and make you
+feel that it is not wise to excite the maternal tenderness of a wild
+animal. But it is in winter that the wolves are more especially
+dangerous, and it is in this rough season that war to the knife is
+declared against them. The peasants, as well the wood-cutters and
+charcoal-burners of the forest, having then no employment, assemble in
+small bands, furnish themselves with provisions for several days, and
+armed with ponderous and clumsy fowling-pieces, go in search of the wild
+cat and the wolf, the roebuck and the boar.
+
+On these occasions, as in all those where fire-arms are used, the
+chapter of accidents is seldom without a page relating some sad history.
+Two young men of the village of Akin, near Vezelay, one of whom was
+engaged to the sister of his companion, having made their arrangements,
+set out to hunt together in this manner, trusting that a heavy bag might
+pay for the expenses of the wedding fête. As luck would have it, they
+soon fell upon the traces of a boar, and separating at the entrance of a
+dark ravine, to beat for and watch the animal, were lost to view. But a
+short time had elapsed when the young man who was about to be married
+observing, though not clearly, between the trees and bushes a large
+black mass, which moved to and fro, and which he imagined was the boar
+listening, brought his gun to his shoulder, and, firing, lodged two iron
+slugs in the body of his comrade, who, advancing towards him, his
+shoulders being covered with a black sheepskin, had stooped down for a
+few seconds to tie the strings of his leggings, or his shoes.
+
+When the trees are devoid of foliage and the snow covers the ground,
+when the forest is melancholy and cold, and the wolves famished with
+hunger, a rather original mode of taking them by night is adopted. A few
+days previously to the one appointed for the purpose, a large glade in
+the very thickest part of the forest having been selected, a carpenter
+and his assistant, with a well-furnished bag of tools, start for the
+spot. There, choosing some suitable trees, or branches of young
+pollards, they cut down a sufficient number, place them in the ground so
+as to form a hut of twelve yards square, leaving between each tree an
+interval of about four inches; strengthening the edifice by beams at the
+base, and boards nailed transversely seven feet from the ground.
+
+This open hut thus prepared, and which, at fifty paces distance, ought
+not, if well constructed, to be distinguishable from the trees, is left
+open to the inspection of the beasts of the forest for several nights in
+succession, in order that they, always suspicious of the most trifling
+circumstance, may get accustomed to it. Two or three ducks, a goose, and
+sometimes a sheep, are fastened during these nights near the hut, with a
+view of alluring the wolves and inducing them to visit the mansion.
+
+The day, or rather the appointed evening, having arrived (a star or
+moonlight night being selected), the assembled huntsmen, and a long line
+of servants, betake themselves to the forest, leading by the head four
+calves, and carrying with them a cask of cold meat, a hamper of wine, a
+box of cigars, and a horse-load of pale _cogniac_--a few camels and
+dromedaries added to this cavalcade, and one would have a complete
+picture of a tribe of Bedouins preparing to pass the Great Desert.
+Arrived in the forest about nightfall, and well and duly shut up in
+their Gibraltar of wood, the sportsmen may eat, drink, and smoke, and
+converse in an undertone; but a heavy fine is invariably inflicted on
+those who make the least noise. No one is permitted to sneeze, talk
+loud, or laugh; as to blowing one's nasal organ vigorously, the thing is
+absolutely forbidden; no one is allowed to have a cold, much less an
+influenza, for at least eight hours, and every sportsman is careful that
+the wine and the viands take each their proper line of road; if either
+should unfortunately diverge, the gentleman must choke rather than
+cough--as to the servants, they do every thing by gesture and signal;
+and woe betide the John that speaks--chance may be, his tongue is thrown
+to the wolves.
+
+When night has set in, the four calves are led out from the stockade and
+fastened to strong posts which have been fixed in front of each face of
+the hut. Silence now reigns supreme, and the wolves,--the spur of famine
+in their insides, mad in short with hunger,--begin to sniff the breeze
+and run their noses over the rank dewy grass of the underwood. At this
+point of my narrative I must bespeak the forbearance of the Society for
+the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and beg them to read on to the
+end, and weigh well the question and the result, before they bring an
+action against me for what follows. The calves in question having been
+placed, they each--must I write it?--receive an incision in the neck,
+the effect of which is that the blood flows slowly, and they bleat
+without ceasing;--such is the custom, as it is said, with butchers to
+make veal white and pleasing to the eye of the epicure; a really inhuman
+habit--but when the deed is done with a view to the extermination of
+wolves, I think there is little doubt but Mr. Martin himself would have
+used a fleam in the cause.
+
+This operation over, the sportsmen divide, post themselves, with their
+guns ready, on each side of the hut, and wait with beating hearts the
+arrival of the expected four-footed visitors. Nine o'clock passes--ten,
+half-past--not a sound is heard in the forest; the sportsmen who look
+out on the snowy scene around them observe nothing; all without is
+dreary silence, broken at intervals by the poor ruminating creatures in
+front, the cry of a solitary owl, the fall of some dead branch which age
+and the tempest has separated from the giant oak, the sudden spring of
+the squirrel awakened by the noise, and, in the interior of the cabin,
+by the soft gurgling of the ruby wine escaping joyfully from its glass
+prison-house, to cheer the heart of the impatient _chasseur_--and who
+knows better than he how to empty a flask of genuine Burgundy?
+
+We will, therefore, imagine some of the party enjoying themselves after
+this fashion; when suddenly the calves are heard to rise, to bellow and
+groan, strain at the ropes with which they are fastened, and endeavour
+to escape; every cigar is at once extinguished, the comic changes to the
+serious--the wolves are on the scent. A few minutes more, and black
+spots are seen dotted about here and there on the snow; these increase
+in number and approach,--they are the wolves that observe and listen;
+the frantic terror of the calves is redoubled; the black spots become
+larger, they advance still nearer, and at length the animals may clearly
+be distinguished. The wolves imagine the calves have come astray. What a
+charming thing if they could carry them off to the dark ravines they
+inhabit! The great square hut, silent as Harpocrates, and the smell of
+man, make them hesitate; but a hunger of many days (and we know that
+man, the image of his Maker, will eat man, his fellow, in his
+extremity) and the smell of blood prevail and overcome their fears. Four
+or five wolves rush forward, and endeavour to remove the calves; the
+attempt is vain, the ropes are strong, and so are the posts to which the
+animals are fastened: unable, therefore, to succeed, and stretched
+across their dying victims, they plunge their ravenous jaws into the
+palpitating flesh, forget their alarm in so delicious a supper, and eat
+and drink to their heart's content. The rest of the pack thus
+encouraged, and afraid of being too late, now advance at a gallop to
+share in the repast.
+
+It is then, and amid the yells, the disputes, and the bloody encounters
+occasioned by a division of the spoil, that the sportsmen open their
+fire. The first volley puts the wolves to flight, and they retire to a
+short distance. But again all is silent, they soon return to the
+carcases they cannot make up their minds to desert; other wolves also,
+that have been in the rear, attracted by the cries and smell of their
+wounded companions, and the blood of the calves, arrive and take part in
+the strife, so that during several hours the forest echoes with repeated
+volleys. At length the calves are fairly eaten up, when the fortunate
+survivors of the fray, gorged and satiated, take to flight, and
+disappear like a band of black demons into the recesses of the forest.
+It is then the sportsmen leave their hut, stretch their limbs, count the
+dead, dispatch their wounded enemies, and, clothed in thick fur cloaks,
+sit as if at the bivouac round a large fire, passing the remaining hours
+of the night in emptying more bottles, excavating more pies, drinking
+more punch, and telling better stories than those which I have had the
+pleasure of laying before the reader.
+
+The morning has scarcely dawned and the party is on the road home, when
+a crowd of peasants arrive with their dogs, who, following the bloody
+traces of the wolves in the snow, dispatch those which, though wounded,
+have been able to leave the spot--for the sight of a dead wolf is to a
+Morvinian as delightful as the possession of one is profitable. Having
+killed his ferocious enemy, the peasant cuts off his head and his four
+feet, which he fastens crosswise at the end of his staff; then arraying
+himself in his best and most showy clothes, his hat ornamented with
+flowers and ribbons streaming in the breeze, like those in the cap of an
+English recruit, he is off, the left foot foremost, to the mayor of his
+parish to receive the reward offered by the government. But his road to
+his worship is anything but direct; he performs what he terms the grand
+tour, visits every village in his way, makes his bow to the women, calls
+at the sheep-farms and the _chateâux_, showing, with no little pride and
+exultation, his wolf's head, and receives at each some acknowledgment
+for the service he has rendered the community,--money, a dozen of eggs,
+a pound of lard, a bit of pork, bread, flour, flax, or salt, &c. He who
+kills the wolf, and carries the spoils as a trophy in this manner, is
+accompanied by the musician of the neighbourhood, who marches before him
+blowing his bagpipe with the force of an ox; behind him is one of the
+strongest men of the village, with a large bag on each shoulder, who
+carries the presents, and imitates the cry and yells of a wolf when the
+piper is tired. It will not therefore be considered astonishing if it is
+always with renewed pleasure that a peasant of Le Morvan kills a wolf;
+and though one becomes tired, _blazé_ with almost everything in this
+mortal world, it is not the case when a gallant fellow is seen entering
+a village carrying the head of this hideous monster on his pole. This
+trophy, with tongue distended and mouth kept wide open by a piece of
+wood to show his long yellow teeth, frightens all the little children
+that see it.
+
+There are many other methods of taking the wolf, with a hook, a net,
+with tame she-wolves _à la loge_, the poacher's method, in pits, and in
+a washing-tub by the side of a pond, &c. But a description of these
+several modes would occupy too much space. I cannot, however, before
+taking a final leave of this subject, resist the temptation to relate
+one last and most fearful incident--a frightful illustration of the
+horrors to which a country infested by this animal is liable. It
+happened during my sojourn at St. Hibaut, at a farm in that
+neighbourhood.
+
+It was in the month of February, the winter was exceedingly severe, and
+three feet of snow still covered the mountains; all communication
+between the villages had ceased, and bands of hungry wolves besieged the
+farms in the heart of the woods.
+
+The forest of La Madeleine, particularly full of ravines and dark
+thickets, small hamlets, and solitary houses, was overrun with these
+insatiable and remorseless brutes. Travellers had been devoured in the
+passes of La Goulotte, and mangled and torn in the ravines of Lingou. No
+one dared venture into the country when night approached.
+
+The farm of which I am about to speak stands just on the borders of the
+forest of La Madeleine, in the midst of pastures and patches of furze;
+it was full of cattle and sheep, and by the time the stars were
+brilliantly illuminating the dark arch of heaven, was frequently
+surrounded by troops of wolves, scratching under the walls, and loudly
+demanding the trifling alms of a horse, an ox, or a man. It so happened
+that at this time one of the farmer's colts died, and he determined, if
+possible, to use it as a bait, which would provide him the opportunity
+of destroying some of his nocturnal visitors.
+
+For this purpose he placed the dead body in the middle of his
+court-yard, and having fastened weights to its neck and legs, to prevent
+the wolves from dragging it away, he set the principal gate open, but so
+arranged with cords and pulleys that it could be closed at any required
+moment. Night came on; the house was shut up, the candles extinguished,
+the stables barricaded, the dogs brought in-doors and muzzled to prevent
+them from barking, and, in the bright starlight, on some clean straw,
+the better to attract attention, lay the dead body of the colt--the
+gate, as we have said, being open. All was ready, all within on the
+watch, when about ten o'clock the wolves were heard in the distance;
+they approached, smelt, looked, listened, grumbled, and distrusting the
+open gate, paused; not one would enter. Profound was the silence and
+excitement in the house. Hunger at last overcame prudence and mistrust.
+Their savage cries were renewed; they became more and more impatient and
+exasperated,--how was it possible to resist a piece of young horseflesh?
+The most forward, probably the captain of the band, could hold out no
+longer, and to show his fellows he was worthy to be their leader, he
+advanced alone, passed the Rubicon, went up to the colt, tore away a
+large piece of his chest, and, proud of his achievement, set off at
+speed with his booty between his teeth. The other wolves, seeing him
+escape in safety, regained their confidence, and one, two, three, six,
+eight wolves were soon gathered round the animal, but, though eating as
+fast as they could, they remained with ears erect, and each eye still on
+the gate.
+
+Eight wolves! The farmer thought it a respectable number, and whistled,
+when the four men at the ropes hauling instantly, the large
+folding-gates rolled to, and closed in the stillness with the noise of
+thunder,--the wolves were prisoners. Startled and terrified at finding
+themselves caught, they at once deserted the small remains of the colt,
+creeping about in all directions in search of some outlet by which they
+might escape, or some hole to hide in, while the farmer, having secured
+them, sent his household to bed, putting off their destruction till
+sunrise.
+
+The morning dawned, and with the first rays of light master and men, for
+whom the event was a perfect _fête_, set some ladders against the walls
+of the court, and from them, as well as the windows, fired volleys on
+the entrapped wolves. Unable to resist, the animals for some time
+hurried hither and thither, crouching in every nook and corner of the
+yard: but the wounds from balls which reached them behind the stones, or
+under the carts, soon turned their fear into rage. They began to make
+alarming leaps, and the most dreadful yells. The work of destruction
+went on but slowly;--the men were but indifferent shots, the wolves
+never an instant at rest;--and the rapidity and perseverance with which
+they continued to gallop round, or leap from side to side of the yard,
+as if in a cage, essentially baffled the endeavours of their enemies.
+
+The affair was in this way becoming tedious, when an unlooked-for
+misfortune threw a dreadful gloom over the whole scene.
+
+The ladder used by one of the party being too short, the young man
+placed himself on the wall, as if in a saddle, to have a better
+opportunity of taking aim; when one of the wolves, the largest,
+strongest, and most exasperated, suddenly bounded at the wall, as if to
+clear it, but failed; subsequently the animal attempted to climb up by
+means of the unhewn stones, like a cat, and though he again failed,
+reached high enough almost to seize with his sharp teeth the foot of the
+unfortunate lad. Terrified at this he raised his leg to avoid the
+brute--lost his balance--and the same moment fell with a heart-rending
+scream into the court below. Each and all the wolves turned like
+lightning on their helpless, hopeless victim, and a cry of horror was
+heard on every side.
+
+The storm of leaden hail ceased: no man dared fire again, and yet
+something must be done, for the monsters were devouring their unhappy
+fellow-servant. Listening only to the dictates of courage and humanity,
+the noble-hearted farmer, gun in hand, leaped at once into the yard, and
+his men all followed his heroic example. A general and frightful
+conflict ensued. The scene which then took place defies every attempt at
+description. No pen could adequately place before the reader the awful
+incidents that succeeded. He must, if he can, imagine the howling of the
+wolves, the piteous cries of the lacerated and dying youth, the
+imprecations of the men, the neighing of the horses and roaring of the
+bulls in the stables; and, more than all, the crying and lamentations of
+the women and children in the house--a fearful chorus--such as happily
+few, very few persons were ever doomed to hear. At last the farmer's
+wife, a powerful and resolute woman, with great presence of mind
+unmuzzled the dogs, and threw them from a window into the yard. This
+most useful reinforcement with their vigorous attacks and loud barking
+completed the tumult and the tragedy. In twenty minutes the eight wolves
+were dead, and with them half the faithful dogs. The poor unfortunate
+lad, his throat torn open, was dead; his courageous, though unsuccessful
+defenders, were all more or less wounded, and the gallant farmer's left
+hand so injured, that as soon as surgical assistance could be procured
+for him, amputation was found to be necessary.
+
+The monsters, stretched side by side in the yard, were also stone dead,
+every one of them; but not a voice on the farm raised the heart-stirring
+shout of victory. Consternation and gloom reigned over it, and it was
+long indeed ere the voice of mourning deserted its walls.
+
+The skin of the wolf is strong and durable; the woodmen, _braconniers_,
+and mountaineers, make cloaks and caps of it, the tail being left on the
+latter to fall over the ear by way of ornament; they likewise cover with
+it the outside of their game-bags. They tan it also, and excellent shoes
+are made of the leather, soft and light for summer wear,--it is likewise
+made into parchment, not to write the history of their ancestors upon,
+but to cover small drums, the rattle of which, on fairdays and _fêtes_
+is sure to set the peasants dancing. This fact is alluded to in a song
+of our province, written by a shepherd-poet, in the pleasing dialect of
+Le Morvan, of which the following is a free translation:
+
+  Hark! 'tis the wolf-skin drum,
+                    We come! We come!
+      Yes, come with me sweet girl, and fair
+      As rosebud wild that scents the air.
+  The heavens are bright, the stars are shining,
+  Thy lovely form my arms entwining;
+      Together let us lead the dance
+      Deep in thy sylvan haunts, dear France!
+  Hark! I hear those sounds again,
+  The wolf-skin drum, the pipers' strain.
+
+Wealthy persons use a wolf-skin for a carriage-rug, and in the rainy
+season as a mat at the door of a room. "There is nothing good in the
+wolf," says Buffon, "he has a base low look--a savage aspect, a terrible
+voice, an insupportable smell, a nature brutal and ferocious, and a body
+so foul and unclean that no animal or reptile will touch his flesh. It
+is only a wolf that can eat a wolf." "No animal," writes Cuvier, "so
+richly merits destruction as the wolf." With these two funeral orations
+on these incarnate fiends of Natural History, I shall close this
+chapter, remarking that the anathema bestowed on them by Buffon is not
+quite correct, for if wolves are dangerous, and enemies to the public
+weal, and "there is nothing good" in them during their lives, they, at
+least, become useful after their death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+     Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalists--The _Gour_ of Akin--The
+     English lady--The mountain streams--Château de
+     Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The
+     rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens of the grotto--Château des
+     Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and lakes of Lomervo--Mode
+     of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch farmer.
+
+
+Having disposed of the quadrupeds of Le Morvan, I must enlarge a little
+upon the finny tribe of my native province, who would, I feel sure, be
+not a little annoyed if after having mentioned nearly every other
+creature capable of affording amusement to the sportsman I were to pass
+them over in silence. Besides, the shade of Izaak Walton would haunt me,
+and his disciples no doubt wish me well hooked, if I omitted to give
+them a chapter on angling,--but it shall be short, and I will avoid all
+scientific discussion. Theories sufficient have been hazarded, and books
+written without number from the days of old Aristotle, who arranged them
+in three great divisions, the Cetaceous, the Cartilaginous, and the
+Spinous; down to Gmelin, who divided them into six orders, the Apodal,
+the Jugular, the Thoracic, the Abdominal, the Branchiostagous, and the
+Chondropterygious.
+
+How men, learned and scientific men, can be so barbarous as to invent
+such grotesque names as these is surprizing, or why Apicius should be
+remembered for having been the first to teach mankind how to suffocate
+fish in Carthaginian pickle; or Quin, for having discovered a sauce for
+John Dories; or Mrs. Glasse, for an eel pie; or M. Soyer, celebrated for
+depriving barbel of their sight, in order to make them grow fatter, and
+be more acceptable to the epicure. Into this wilderness of discoveries,
+I have no intention of introducing you, gentle reader. The wisest plan
+is to cook and eat your fish in the ordinary mode--fry, broil, bake,
+boil, or grill; and call a perch, a perch, not a thoracic; a pike, a
+pike, &c., and pay little attention either to cooks or naturalists.
+
+Le Morvan, intersected by numerous rivers, streams, and runs of water,
+in the liquid depths of which the various species of the fresh-water
+fishy-family are found from the powerful, swift, and travelled salmon,
+to the modest little gudgeon that stays quietly at home, is a country
+where the angler may live in a state of perpetual jubilee; the carp, the
+eel, and the pike attain an enormous size, particularly near the dams
+and flood-gates, where the depth of water is great, and in the _Gours_
+or water-courses which, diverging at several points on the stream, are
+constructed for supplying the flour and paper-mills with water.
+
+The punters of Richmond, Hampton Court, and Chertsey, with their
+magnificent tackle, gentles, ground-bait, and comfortable chair, &c.,
+would be astonished to see the quantities of fish that are taken in one
+of these _Gours_ by a half-naked peasant, with a line as thick as
+packthread, during a sultry tempestuous evening in the month of June;
+from thirty to forty pounds' weight of carp and eels is by no means an
+unusual take,--Apodal and Abdominal, as the learned Gmelin would say.
+
+These _Gours_ are perfect jewels in the eyes of our fishermen; on very
+great occasions, for instance, when the miller marries, or an infant
+miller makes his appearance, if the occurrence should happen during the
+summer season, the flood-gates of the _Gours_ are opened, when the
+waters being let off to within a few inches of the bottom, the quantity
+of fish taken with the casting-net is enormous. In the large _Gour_ of
+Akin, the longest, the deepest, and containing more fish than any on the
+Cure or the Cousin, which I mention as representing the ten or twelve
+second-rate rivers of Le Morvan, I have seen as much as four horse-loads
+of fish taken, though every fish under two pounds was thrown back. The
+average depth of water in these rivers is from three to four feet,
+except near the dams and flood-gates, where it is from twelve to
+thirteen. With rivers so well supplied, sport is invariably obtained; so
+that patience, a virtue generally considered absolutely necessary in the
+angler, is scarcely required here, and fishing is actually a pastime of
+the _beau sexe_.
+
+Well do I remember the astonishment, the pleasure, the delicious joy of
+a young English lady we had the good fortune to have with us at Vezelay,
+some few years since (where, by-the-bye, she made quite a sensation),
+when for the first time, and seated comfortably upon the soft turf by
+the river side, she gracefully threw her line into the great _Gour_ of
+Akin; the bait had scarcely sunk, when the float was dancing about like
+a dervish, and finally disappeared; the lady pulled, the fish resisted;
+excited beyond measure, she redoubled her efforts, and tugging away with
+both hands, at length drew from his watery home a large carp, which
+flying through the air, described a splendid parabola, and landed in the
+adjoining field, to the great joy of the young lady, who showed her
+white teeth and laughed with might and main. But the poor devil of a
+servant to whom was confided the delicate task of impaling the bait,
+disentangling the line, and searching for the fish, when thus projected
+over the lady's head into the long grass behind her, had plenty to do I
+can aver, and did anything but laugh.
+
+Near the forests and the hills the rivers are much more shallow, more
+clear and limpid, and flow, dance, and bubble over a gravelly bottom or
+golden sands. In these the voracious trout abounds; he may be seen
+allowing himself to be lazily rocked by the eddy, by the twirling
+current, or reposing under the shadow of the large rocks, which,
+detached from the adjacent mountains, have fallen into the river, and
+been arrested in their course; here he waits for the delicious May-fly,
+and the fisherman's basket is soon filled--so soon that a celebrated
+doctor in our neighbourhood, whose house is situated near one of these
+streams, used to send his servant every morning to take a fresh dish for
+his breakfast. The largest and the best trout are found near Chatelux,
+in the heart of the Morvan,--an old _château_, on the summit of a high
+rock, ornamented with towers and turrets, and surrounded by thick and
+solitary woods, in itself a lion worth seeing.
+
+The present Count de Chatelux was aide-de-camp to Louis Phillipe, and a
+great friend of that sovereign. The river Cure flows at the foot of the
+hill on which the castle is situated, and its bed at this part is
+frequently divided, and forms many little islets, full of flowering
+shrubs and forest trees, which give the landscape a pleasing and
+picturesque appearance. From hence, for nearly twelve miles, roach,
+dace, chub, and trout are numerous, and take the fly well.
+
+Besides the _Gours_ we have mentioned, there are three spots in the
+Morvan that deserve attention in connection with fishing. These are
+Sermiselle, Pierre Pertuis, and the Château des Panolas. Sermiselle, at
+the junction of the Cure and the Cousin, at which point the road from
+Paris to Lyons passes, is a charming village, full of life and gaiety.
+At this spot the river begins to make a respectable figure; deep,
+solemn, and silent, it seems proud of its boats and ferries; but its
+waters have not that transparent appearance, that vivacious, laughing,
+and brawling character which distinguished them some miles further up.
+The fish in like manner resemble the stream; there are in this part
+monstrous carp, majestic eels, and solemn pike; and the line should be
+doubly strong if the angler is desirous of ever seeing a fish, or his
+hooks again.
+
+At some distance above Sermiselle, where the silence and solitude of the
+country still reign, a very curious mode of fishing is adopted during
+the burning heat of the summer months. About mid-day, when the sun in
+all its power shoots his golden rays perpendicularly on the waters,
+illuminating every large hole even in the profoundest depths, the large
+fish leave them, and, ascending to the surface, remain under the cool
+shade of the trees, watching for whatever tit-bit or delicacy the stream
+may bring with it, while others prefer a quiet saunter, or, with the
+dorsal fin above the water, lie so still and stationary near some lily
+or other aquatic plant, that they seem perfectly asleep.
+
+The enthusiastic sportsman, who fears neither storms nor a
+_coup-de-soleil_, makes his appearance about this time, without, it is
+true, either fishing-rod, lines, worms, flies, or bait of any
+description, but having under his left arm a double-barrel gun, in his
+right hand a large cabbage, and at his heels a clever poodle. The
+fisherman, or the huntsman, I scarcely know which to call him, now duly
+reconnoitres the river, fixes upon some tree, the large and lower
+branches of which spread over it, ascends with his gun and his cabbage,
+and having taken up an equestrian position upon one of the projecting
+arms, examines the surface of the deep stream below him. He has not been
+long on his perch when he perceives a stately pike paddling up the
+river; a leaf is instantly broken off the cabbage, and when the
+Branchiostagous has approached sufficiently near, is thrown into the
+water; frightened, the voracious fish at once disappears, but shortly
+after rises, and grateful to the unknown and kind friend who has sent
+him this admirable parasol, he goes towards it, and after pushing it
+about for a few seconds with his nose, finally places himself
+comfortably under its protecting shade. The sportsman, watching the
+animated gyrations of his cabbage-leaf, immediately fires, when the
+poodle, whose sagacity is quite equal to that of his master, plunges
+into the water, and if the fish is either dead or severely wounded fails
+not to bring out with him the scaly morsel; thus so long as the heavens
+are bright and blue, the water is warm, the large fish choose to
+promenade in the sun, and the sportsman's powers of climbing hold out,
+the sport continues. Sometimes the poodle and the fish have a very sharp
+struggle, and then the fun is great indeed, unless by chance the
+sportsman should unfortunately miss his hold in the midst of his
+laughter, and drop head-foremost into the water with his cabbage and his
+double-barrel.
+
+Pierre Pertuis on the Cure, is also a famous place for fishing, and an
+extraordinary spot, and the Morvinian peasant, a highly
+poetically-flavoured individual, has made it the theatre of some very
+fantastic scenes. Imagine a yellow rock, of gigantic height, terminating
+in a point, with its sides full of fissures, holes, and crevices,
+inhabited by crows, owls, and bats, having its base in the river and its
+summit crowned with a rough _chevelure_ of brambles and large creeping
+plants. The lower part of this rock is intersected by holes, through
+which the water rushes, tumbles, and whirls. The peasants pretend that
+the river near the rock cannot be fathomed, and that this particular
+spot is inhabited by fairies, nymphs, syrens, and other amiable ladies
+of this description, who have superb voices, and sing from the interior
+of their grottos delicious melodies of the other world, with the
+charitable intention of attracting the passing traveller or fisherman,
+and drowning him in the whirlpool beneath--a fate that would certainly
+be inevitable, if the attraction in question could bring them within
+its vortex, for certain it is that neither sheep-dogs or cattle which
+have fallen in, or been drawn within reach of its power, have ever been
+seen again. When the tempest rages here, the wind, rushing into the
+holes and fissures, produces a kind of moaning Æolian noise, and this
+with the cries of the owls and the rooks when the _mistral_ blows and
+they have the rheumatism, produces, and no wonder, a superstitious
+feeling of awe in the mind of the ignorant peasant.
+
+On the Cousin, which flows majestically through some of the most
+magnificent pastures in the world, and on the summit of a large hill,
+stands the charming Château des Panolas, the towers and walls of which,
+covered with pointed roofs and weather-cocks, and surrounded by domes,
+belvederes, and old-fashioned dovecots, give it at a distance the
+appearance of some oriental building. The weather-cocks in particular
+are of the most fanciful and grotesque designs, and it is said, and I
+should think there can be no doubt of the fact, that in no other
+structure have so many been seen together: it is calculated there are no
+less than three hundred. In going and returning from the forest, many a
+time have I and my friends, in the hey-day of youthful iniquities,
+knocked one of them off with a ball from our guns, to the great anger
+of the proprietor, who threatened us with his mahogany crutch from the
+hall door.
+
+In the great ponds of Marot, and in the lakes of Lomervo--immense liquid
+plains, deep and surrounded in their whole circumference by a forest of
+green rushes, water-lilies, flags, and many other aquatic plants,
+forming a wall of verdure--the enormous quantity of fish of every kind
+is almost incredible. Nor is this extraordinary, for the waters of at
+least a dozen streams from the mountains, which swarm with life, fall
+into these vast reservoirs, and they are only fished once in every five
+years. This is a delectable spot for fishermen; but, on the other hand,
+as the value of these sheets of water is well understood by their
+proprietors, they are sharply looked after by them and their keepers,
+and it is almost as difficult to find an opportunity of throwing a line
+during the day, as it is for a poacher to throw a casting net on a
+moonlight night.
+
+Nevertheless, as the appropriation of other people's property has an
+exquisite charm for some temperaments,--as a stolen apple to a child's
+palate is much more delightful than one that is not--the demon of
+acquisitiveness is always leaning over a man's shoulder,--that is to
+say, a poacher's shoulder, or even that of a gentleman with poaching
+tastes and inclinations,--to breathe in his ear bad advice. As to the
+peasants in the neighbourhood, they are always consulting together, or
+inventing some method by which they may circumvent the proprietors and
+appropriate their fish to themselves.
+
+One of the happiest discoveries of the kind I ever heard of,--not the
+most recent but the best,--is the following. Every person in the
+possession of a cottage, possesses also a few ducks and geese, which
+paddle about their humble habitations. A man who has an itching for the
+thing, and who desires to become a pond-skimmer, as they are called,
+carefully selects from his squadron of _palmipedes_, the strongest, the
+most intelligent duck or goose of the party; his choice made, he
+immediately sets to work to give him the education befitting a bird
+destined for so honourable and diplomatic an employment.
+
+After very many trials, lessons, and lectures, more or less difficult
+and tedious, the bird is taught to swim to a distance right ahead--to
+turn to one side when his master sings, and return to him when he
+whistles. These two primary and elementary movements, which appear so
+very natural, demand, nevertheless, wonderful patience, and no little
+cleverness and tact in the professor to instil--for his pupils, be it
+remembered, are ducks and geese--and furnishes an example of how the
+hope and love of gain has its effect on mankind. These very peasants,
+who never would take the trouble to learn their letters--only
+twenty-four--who would not many of them go two miles to learn how to
+sign their own names, pass whole days in the gray waters of these
+marshes, more often than not up to their waists in mud, whistling and
+singing and twitching the legs of their unfortunate birds, and nearly
+pulling them off with a string, when they either do not comprehend, or
+obey as quickly as they might, the orders they receive.
+
+Dozens of ducks and geese that would in London or Paris be considered
+highly curious and infinitely wiser than any of their species--even
+those of the Capitol--are thus trained every year in Le Morvan, without
+any one giving them a thought, and may be purchased, education included,
+for two shillings a piece. When these winged students are so thoroughly
+qualified for their duties, that they can go through their exercise
+without a mistake, and are considered worthy of taking the field, the
+peasant puts them into his bag, and setting off very early in the
+morning to one of the great ponds I have mentioned, conceals himself
+behind a thick tufty curtain of flags, from whence he can see without
+being seen.
+
+Here, opening his bag, he takes out the half suffocated ducks or geese,
+which are glad enough to find themselves once more on their favourite
+element; and the intelligent birds have scarcely regained their liberty
+when the peasant commences his ballad, and immediately the anchor is
+apeak and they are off; he sings, he whistles, and they turn, like two
+well-manned frigates, and come back to him without a moment's delay. The
+act is so natural, so simple, that no one can be attracted by it; nor is
+it possible to suspect a goose or a duck with its head down searching
+for food, that paddles about in the weeds or on the shore, or dabbles
+amongst the rushes. Should the keeper appear, the peasant is sure to be
+found lying on his back half asleep, or singing or whistling, as if
+mocking the lark in the clear blue sky above him.
+
+Nevertheless, this goose, this duck, and this man are first-rate
+thieves,--cracksmen of their class; for the peasant, before he confides
+his poultry to the waves, makes their toilette; sliding under the left
+wing and over the right, across the body, like a soldier's belt, a
+strong and well-baited pike-hook. Thus equipped and ready for the start,
+the pirate birds leave on their buccaneering expedition; but they are
+scarcely a stone's throw from the shore, and well clear of the little
+islands of flags, when a hungry pike, observing the delicious frog
+towing in the rear, seizes it, and makes off to his hole, to gorge the
+bait at his leisure. More easily thought than done;--the goose stoutly
+resists, and refuses to accompany the fresh-water shark to his weedy
+home. A warm and obstinate engagement is the result; the peasant
+watches, with approving eye, the embarassment of his feathered
+accomplice, until he thinks it time to put an end to the scrimmage, when
+he whistles like an easterly wind in a passion. The goose, rather
+encumbered by the carnivorous gentleman below him, endeavours for some
+time but in vain to obey the signal; he flaps his wings, works away with
+his legs, and cackles without ceasing. The poacher encourages him with
+another whistle, and at length the bird, in spite of all his adversary's
+attempts to the contrary, leads the "greedy game of the deep" to the
+shore, and delivers it to his master. This is, certainly, a very curious
+mode of taking pike, and the live trimmer looks very puzzled when the
+voracious fish is hooked; but the following anecdote, taken from the
+scrap-book of Mr. M'Diarmid, shows that a Scotchman once adopted the
+same method, though for a different reason. "Several years ago," he
+writes, "a farmer, living in the immediate neighbourhood of Lochmaben,
+Dumfriesshire, kept a gander, who not only had a great trick of
+wandering himself, but also delighted in piloting forth his cackling
+harem, to weary themselves in circumnavigating their native lake, or in
+straying amidst forbidden fields on the opposite shore. Wishing to check
+this flagrant habit, the farmer one day seized the gander just as he was
+about to spring upon the blue bosom of his favourite element, and tying
+a large fish-hook to his leg, to which was attached part of a dead frog,
+he suffered him to proceed upon his voyage of discovery. As had been
+anticipated, this bait soon caught the eye of a ravenous pike, which
+swallowing the deadly hook, not only arrested the progress of the
+astonished gander, but forced him to perform half-a-dozen summersets on
+the surface of the water! For some time, the struggle was most
+amusing--the fish pulling, and the bird screaming with all its
+might,--the one attempting to fly, and the other to swim, from the
+invisible enemy--the gander one moment losing and the next regaining his
+centre of gravity, and casting between whiles many a rueful look at his
+snow-white fleet of geese and goslings, who cackled out their sympathy
+for their afflicted commodore. At length Victory declared in favour of
+the feathered angler, who, bearing away for the nearest shore, landed on
+the smooth green grass one of the finest pike ever caught in the Castle
+Loch."
+
+This adventure is said to have cured the gander of his desperate
+propensity for wandering.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+     Village _fêtes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The
+     _Fête Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in
+     them--Procession from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at
+     them--Pictures of the Roman Catholic Church--Before the
+     _Vendange_--Proprietors' hopes and fears--Shooting in the
+     vineyards--The first day of the _Vendange_--Appearance of the
+     country--Influx of visitors at this season--The
+     consequences--Herminie--Her sad history--Le Morvan--Recommended to
+     the English traveller--Lord Brougham and Cannes--Contrast between
+     it and Le Morvan.
+
+
+One of the happiest and most useful customs established by our
+ancestors, was, without doubt, the village _fête_--the periodical
+festival that takes place in every hamlet, and at which the inhabitants
+of the adjoining _communes_ assemble on a specified day to foot it gaily
+in the dance and drink each other's health glass to glass in brimming
+bumpers. These joyous _fêtes_, a kind of fraternal and social
+invitation, which are given and accepted by the rural population when
+spring and verdure made their appearance, are held all over France, and
+rejoice every heart. In our day, though much shorn of its ancient
+revelry, and neglected, _la fête du village_ is still kept up, for it
+is, so to speak, indigenous,--a part of our social habits, and like
+everything which carries within it a generous sentiment, is loved and
+cherished by the people. As the day approaches every village is suitably
+decorated, the women are all on the tip toe of excitement to see and be
+seen, the peasant throws dull care behind him, and the artizans in the
+nearest town work with renewed energy in order that they may do honour
+to the occasion. Every one, in short, makes his way to the rendezvous, a
+merry laugh on his lip and joy in his heart, and, lost in the tumult and
+general gaiety that prevail, all forget, for some few hours, their hard
+work and privations.
+
+These festivals offer to each either profit or amusement; the peasants
+find in them a refreshing and salutary rest from toil, the tradesman
+fails not to fill his pockets with their hard earnings, the clown shows
+off his summersets, the young men are touched with the tender passion,
+and the young girls, with their white teeth and sparkling eyes, await
+with feigned indifference the proposals of their admirers. The village
+_fête_ forms a bright epoch in rustic life, and the gay hours passed at
+them are the happiest, the most joyous, and the most enchanting of the
+year.
+
+Our ancestors, who knew and more thoroughly understood these matters
+than we do, who loved a laugh, the dance, and the merry outpourings of
+the heart, endeavoured by every means in their power to multiply them,
+and, after having seized upon the name of every saint in paradise, they
+managed to appropriate, and always for the same motive, all the various
+occupations known in the cultivation of the fields as a good excuse for
+holding more of these saturnalia. The season for sowing was one, the
+hay-harvest another, the wheat-harvest, the period of felling the oaks
+in the forest were excellent opportunities for establishing a new
+_fête_, and consequently buying a new coat, singing a carol, drinking to
+France, and skipping _des Rigodons_. For, be it said, one really does
+amuse oneself in my beautiful country; yes, one amuses oneself, perhaps,
+much more than one works; there are more Casinos built than acres
+grubbed up, and is not this partly the reason why the land is so badly
+tilled and produces only one half of what it should. But what signifies
+it, after all, if this half is sufficient for us. England, they say, is
+more opulent and better cultivated; be it so,--she is richer, she
+manufactures more; but is she happier?
+
+Independently of these _fêtes_, the number of which is infinite, but
+which occur only, in each locality, once a year, there exist also those
+merry meetings, which, like the Sunday, are understood by the peasantry
+as a general holiday. Amongst these, the most animated and attractive,
+and more usually marked by happy incidents, is that of the first of May.
+At the earliest dawn of day, the tones of the bagpipe may be
+distinguished in the distance, coming up the principal street of the
+village. He who has heard this rustic sound in the happy days of his
+childhood, under the shade of the elms, will always love the unmusical
+and melancholy wailing of the bagpipe. The strain has scarcely died away
+when all the village is alive, every one is up and dressed in his
+best--the children, with enormous nosegays in each little hand, go and
+present them to their delighted parents, and wish them "_un doux mois de
+Mai_."
+
+Each house, perfumed like a parterre of flowers, opens its doors, and,
+during the live long day, it is between friends and acquaintance a
+series of happy smiles, and a mutual exchange of nosegays and hearty
+shaking of hands. Then in the evening, when the moon has risen in the
+west over the fir woods, the young lads and lasses, with their fathers
+and mothers, saunter along the streets arm in arm. At short distances,
+on the roofs of the houses, are seen, elevated in the air, gigantic
+chaplets of flowers, illuminated by large torches of rosin. Within these
+chaplets are others of smaller size. A dance, _grand rond_, is formed by
+the young lovers that have carried the May to their sweethearts, who,
+rising before the dawn, had already gathered the mysterious declaration
+of love, perfumed and still covered with the tears of night. In this
+large circle is formed another of children, about ten years of age, and
+within this again, a third of quite little things; small human garlands
+within the greater one. And the bagpipe plays, and all the world dance,
+and every one is happy, and the evening breeze shaking the large
+chaplets above showers of lilac and hawthorn bloom fall on the dancers
+and rustic ballroom beneath.
+
+To these village _fêtes_ must be added, to complete the list of our
+popular holidays--the religious festivals, established by the Roman
+Catholic church, which, in the eyes of our rural population, are the
+most imposing and magnificent ceremonies of the year. These _fêtes_ are
+very little known in Protestant countries; a few details, therefore, of
+one of them, taken at hazard, may please, or at least offer some point
+of interest to the reader.
+
+In the month of June, when the heavens are all azure, when the sun
+smiles on us here below, and the summer flowers are all in bloom, the
+long-expected _fête_, the _Fête Dieu_, _la fête des Roses_, the feast of
+Corpus Christi, one of the most brilliant festivals of the Roman
+Catholic church takes place.
+
+Several days before, all the houses appear in a new toilette, decked out
+with evergreens and branches of the vine and tamarisk, festoons of which
+are suspended from window to window. All the streets of the village are
+washed and swept, like a drawing-room. On the preceding evening every
+garden is opened, the borders are ravaged, baskets-full of roses,
+armfulls of jasmine, bunches of gilly-flowers and sweet-pea fall under a
+little army of scissars and white hands. The camellias complain, the
+heliotropes murmur, all the tribe of tulips are in low spirits, for each
+family gathers in a perfect harvest of flowers--every one remarks to the
+other--"To-morrow is the _fête Dieu_, the feast of roses--the favourite
+festival of the year." And when aurora, pale with watching, rises in the
+cloudless sky, when the cock, herald of the morn, proclaims the birth of
+another day, when the first golden ray, traversing space, lights the
+eastern casement, behind which many a lovely bosom heaves, with
+anticipated conquest and excitement, the bells of the village church
+are heard, and at this merry signal every one is up and soon busily
+engaged superintending the preparations for the day.
+
+The streets, as if by enchantment, are carpeted with verdure; the pine,
+the oak, and the birch, from the neighbouring forest, contribute their
+young shoots and leaves; the prickly broom its yellow flowers. The
+façades of the houses are hidden under their various hangings, the rich
+suspend from their windows their splendid carpets; the poor, sheets as
+white as driven snow. All ornament them, here and there, with roses,
+pinks, and carnations. Then, at short distances down the principal
+street, the young _demoiselles_ of the village erect what are termed
+_reposoirs_, a kind of chapel or altar, improvised for the occasion,
+which lead to an emulation and an animated rivalry perfectly terrible.
+It is whose shall be the largest, best, and most elegantly decorated,
+and these young nymphs, usually so reserved and so easily frightened,
+become, for this week, as bold and free as so many dragoons. They enter
+the house, without being announced, open the drawers, visit the
+secretaries, ransack the cupboards. Pirates, with taper fingers, they
+put into their baskets and reticules all the valuables they can lay
+their hands on. Objects of art they are sure to seize, more especially
+if they are made of the precious metals. It is who shall adorn her
+_reposoir_ with gold and bronze vases, with enamelled cups, pictures,
+and rich crucifixes. Important meetings are held, in some secret spot,
+to determine of what form the altar shall be; if the dominating colour
+shall be blue, purple, or lilac. Then there is a consultation whether
+the drapery, that is to cover this temporary chapel, shall be with or
+without a fringe,--a discussion which becomes more entangled with
+difficulties than those in the Parliamentary Club of the Rue des
+Pyramides, as to the continued existence or demise of our poor
+constitution. Silk, satin, and velvet ornament the interior of the
+elegant edifice; the most delicate perfumes burn in each of its corners,
+and, in order further to embellish the altar on which the Holy Eucharist
+is to rest for a few minutes, there is a perfect coquetting with
+chaplets, festoons of gauze, crystal lamps of various colours, and
+transparencies through which the subdued rays of the sun shed their
+softened light.
+
+And, when everything is ready, when the mass has been said, when the
+moment has arrived for the procession to move through the streets, the
+bells ring a still merrier peal, the great folding-doors of the
+principal entrance of the church are thrown open, and emerging from
+thence one sees beneath the vaulted arch, first, the great silver
+cross, then the banner of the blessed Virgin, carried by a beautiful
+young girl, dressed in a robe of spotless white; after her come several
+little children with flaxen heads, their hair parted and flowing on
+their shoulders, carrying in their hands baskets ornamented with lace,
+and full of poppies and corn-flowers; behind them are the children of
+the choir, with their silver-chased incense burners; then two deacons,
+one carrying on a silver plate the bloom of the vine, the other a head
+of corn; then four men supporting a large shield, on which are twelve
+loaves and a lamb, symbolical of the day; and lastly, under a canopy
+enriched with gold lace and fringe, the old priest, calm and grave, who
+carries in his hands the Holy Eucharist, followed by a long line of his
+faithful parishioners, with the mammas and young girls two and two,
+singing psalms and canticles. In this order they move along the crowded
+streets, which are strewn with fennel, green branches, and leaves.
+
+From time to time the whole procession halts before some _reposoir_--the
+little girls drop three curtsies before the beautiful altar, and scatter
+high in the air handfuls of broken flowers, which shed a delicious
+fragrance around; the children of the choir wave their censers to and
+fro, the old priest blesses the crowd who kneel before him, and the
+smoke of the incense, and the perfume of the roses, ascend towards
+heaven as the adorations and prayers of all present ascend to God. This,
+the holiest and most imposing _fête_ of our rural districts, is also the
+one the most loved. Pity not the peasant, pity not those who are from
+necessity obliged to live in these retired spots. They have their
+_fêtes_ as well as the rich, happier and much more magnificent, at which
+they can be present and form part without paying anything. Nature, too,
+source of so many marvels, whether she covers the earth with a robe of
+verdure, or fields of golden corn, or that she shelters it under a
+mantle of snow, presents to the husbandman some interesting scene. Have
+they not also the shade and silence of the forest, the eternal freshness
+of the fountains?
+
+It is true the peasants know nothing of Beethoven's symphony in C, they
+are not familiar with the melodies of Rossini, Madame Grisi has never in
+her terrible finale "_Qual cor tradisti_" made them weep, nor has the
+orchestra of Monsieur Jullien made them deaf. But what are these
+splendid wonders of the town to them? Have they not a melodious choir of
+birds to arouse them each morning from their slumbers? have they not as
+scenes, the woods, the bubbling waters, verdant valleys, real sunrises
+and sunsets? Can they not, seated on the summit of some hill, round
+which the breeze of evening plays, gaze upon the glorious sky above them
+spangled with stars, those unfading flowers of Heaven? Say, reader, is
+not this hill a charming pit-stall, and much preferable to the narrow
+crimson section of the bench at the Opera? These are some of their
+enjoyments; then how could they with any degree of pleasure stick
+themselves up like logs of wood or trusses of hay before a row of lurid
+lamps, to admire some painted men and women mincing up and down the
+stage, or peer through two telescopes at forests of painted calico and
+moons cut out of pasteboard, or listen to hackneyed airs which have been
+sung and resung a hundred times--worn up, in short, like an old rope?
+
+The peasant farmer or yeoman of France, who in the midst of the most
+pleasing circumstances, never forgets his own interests, has also found
+it desirable for the advancement of his worldly prosperity, to establish
+fairs, at which he can sell his hemp and beasts, his wine and his crops;
+purchase clothes for his family, and coulters for his ploughs.
+
+These fairs, which are held once in each month in all the towns of
+Burgundy and large villages of Le Morvan, attract a great concourse of
+people, and as there is much variety in the costumes, head-dresses and
+colours, the effect is highly picturesque. The mountaineer brings with
+him for sale wild boar and venison, wood and wild fruits of the forest;
+the inhabitant of the plain, the thousand productions of the
+neighbouring manufactories. Second-rate jewellers arrive with their
+boxes full of gold crosses and buckles, holy chaplets blessed at some
+favourite shrine, and silver rings.
+
+Book-stalls are also to be seen, kept by Jesuits in disguise, the
+shelves of which are loaded with inferior literature, with a perfect
+deluge of breviaries, almanacks, abridgments of the Lives of the Saints,
+with "Letters fallen from Heaven," in which, "Ladies and gentlemen,"
+shouts the proprietor, "you will read the details, truthful and
+historical, of the last miracle at Rimini; also a new and marvellous
+account, equally authentic, of several pictures of Christ that have shed
+tears of blood. Buy, ladies and gentlemen, buy the history of these
+astonishing miracles--only a penny, ladies, for which you will have into
+the bargain the invaluable signature of our Holy Father the Pope, and
+the benediction of our Lord the Bishop."
+
+But ought one to be surprised at such announcements, at such a traffic,
+or that in these so-called enlightened days, not only auditors but
+purchasers should be found?--that there should, in fact, be a sale for
+these printed mystifications, when officers of the government and
+officers of the armed force, attest on their honour the truth of these
+impudent impositions upon the credulity of mankind, affirm the accuracy
+and _bonâ fide_ character of these winking, blinking, blasphemous,
+lachrymal representations?
+
+Yes--a sub-prefect, a mayor, and an officer of the _gendarmerie_, have
+signed a document stating that they had seen a picture of Christ
+shedding tears of blood!
+
+When archbishops order public prayers and thanksgivings for the renewal
+of these pasquinades, this ridiculous mockery, can one be astonished, I
+say, at the state of religious ignorance and blindness of our peasantry?
+Such, with a few wretched prints representing Napoleon passing the Alps
+seated on an eagle; Poniatowsky and his white horse attempting to cross
+the Oder; Cambronne, with imperial moustachios, on his knees repeating
+the celebrated _mot_ which he never said: "_La garde meurt et ne se rend
+pas_," &c.,--such, I am grieved to confess, is the miserable
+intellectual food, the wretched mental and moral stock of human and
+religious knowledge that supplies the literary and artistic wants of
+the greater portion of the peasants of our departments.
+
+At these fairs all the farm servants are engaged; those who wish to try
+a change of masters, or hire themselves merely for the harvest, assemble
+in the open space near the church, and then offer to those who require
+them, their brawny arms, and their farming acquirements. The most
+celebrated of these fairs is that held on the First of September, to
+which whole hamlets send all their able-bodied men and women, who hire
+themselves to the great proprietors for the _vendange_--for this in
+Burgundy and Le Morvan is the great work, the chief event of the year;
+it is on the _vendange_ that depend the commerce, the tranquillity and
+happiness of the country.
+
+Monsieur B.... is ruined if the sun is obscured by clouds. Monsieur
+D.... who has cunningly laid his hands upon all the barrels within
+thirty miles round, will put a pistol to his head if he cannot sell his
+army of hogsheads. This one relies upon his vineyard for paying his
+debts--another cannot marry unless he makes three hundred tierces of
+wine. Eight out of twelve, in short, reckon upon the produce of their
+vines to buy a new carriage or to be saved from prison; and the agonised
+mariners of the wrecked _Medusa_ never cast their eyes with more
+intense anxiety towards the horizon than do these proprietors of our
+vineyards every morning before the vintage.
+
+If it looks like rain no sunflower is more yellow than their
+countenances; if the cold is unusual every face is pale, and should a
+frost appear imminent, those whose affairs are the most compromised,
+pack up their effects and make ready for a start. But on the other hand,
+if the sky is serene and the wind warm, husbands are actually seen
+embracing their wives, and promising them any toilette they may fancy.
+Should the heat become Bengalic and insupportable oh! then all Burgundy
+is dancing and running to the vineyards,--all the Morvinians fly to the
+hills to enjoy the cool breezes and admire the luxuriant panorama
+beneath and around them.
+
+But for some months previous to the _vendange_, no one but a proprietor
+has the right to enter a vineyard; at this period a perfect calm and
+silence reigns, and they become an asylum, a veritable land of Goshen,
+an oasis for all the partridges, hares, and rabbits of the
+neighbourhood. In order to prevent gentlemen and professional poachers
+from cruising in these delightful latitudes, killing the game and
+injuring the vines, a number of _gardes champêtres_, generally old
+soldiers, are chosen, who armed with an old sabre, post themselves on
+some height which commands the vineyard, ready to lay violent hands on
+any delinquent that may make his appearance. But in spite of the _garde
+champêtre_, his long sabre, their interminable cut and thrust, and his
+eternal _de par la loi, arretez!_ there is a sport in the early morning,
+called _à la traulée_, which is not without its charms.
+
+The vineyards of Burgundy are for the most part divided into sections,
+that is to say, at from two to three hundred paces the contiguity of the
+vines is interrupted, and a small road, which serves during the
+_vendange_ to facilitate the communication and transport of the grapes,
+is cut in the vineyard. At daylight, therefore, before the sun is above
+the horizon, or the white fog hanging in the valleys has been dispersed
+by his rays, and the fashionable gentleman of the town is on the point
+of going to bed, the sportsman, always keen and on the alert, arrives,
+walks slowly and carefully along the roads I have just mentioned,
+looking cautiously right and left, and between the intervals of the
+vines on either side of him.
+
+The rabbits hopping under the leaves, the covey of partridges bathing
+amidst the dew, the hares gravely discussing among themselves the
+respective merits of the heath and wild thyme, are thus surprised in
+their matutinal occupations, and become the prey of the delighted
+sportsman. But the moment approaches when the comparative calm and
+protection which the poor animals enjoy will cease--their days of fun
+and festival are numbered; their enemies up to this period have been
+few--the rich proprietors, the privileged, but now the masses are
+preparing, they are cleaning up their clumsy blunderbusses, and
+to-morrow "the million" will take the field and assail and pop at them
+from every road and pathway--for the mayor, after due consultation with
+the principal personages in the village, has sent his drummer, his
+Mercury, his crier, to beat a tattoo in all the public places, and
+crossways, and announce in front of the _cabarets_ that the grapes being
+ripe the _vendange_ is opened.
+
+The following day, when the last star in the heavens is disappearing,
+when the doors of morning are scarcely opened, every road is covered
+with long lines of waggons drawn by oxen, and a cavalcade of horses and
+mules, and great asses carrying panniers may be seen galloping along in
+all directions. Voices, shouts, squeaking wheels, and neighing horses
+are also heard on every side, and parties of _vendangeurs_ and
+_vendangeuses_, arm in arm, with baskets on their backs, and grape
+knives in their belts, their broad-brimmed hats encircled with ribbons
+and flowers, are seen marching along, singing many a Bacchanalian chorus
+in honour of the occasion. They are on their way to the vineyards, and
+like so many fauns and Bacchantes, only well draped, are with joyous
+hearts ready to gather in the harvest of the ruby grape.
+
+In advance of this delighted and merry crowd, and always like the lark,
+the first on the wing, the sportsman is already at his post,--for the
+first day of the _vendange_ is, as Navarre used to say, a day of powder,
+the _fête du fusil_. And now is formed a line of sometimes three hundred
+_vendangeurs_ and _vendangeuses_ who starting at the same moment, ascend
+the hill-side cutting the grapes, filling and emptying their baskets.
+The young men strike up some jovial song in praise of wine, the girls
+reply; and before this soul-stirring chorus, this burst of gay and
+animated feeling, the game, astounded at the concert, break and retire
+before them. Then is the moment for the sportsman, who, concealed in a
+large thicket and comfortably seated at the summit of the hill, listens
+and laughs in his sleeve as he hears the affrighted partridge call, and
+the timid hare rushing through the vines towards him; they approach, are
+within range of his gun, and ere long the shot-bag is emptied, and the
+sportsman is in that rare but agreeable dilemma of not knowing what to
+do with his game or his gun.
+
+In a wine country the _vendange_ is certainly the most exciting and
+merriest season of the year--it is a succession of delightful _fêtes_ in
+the open air, of repasts amongst the vines and under the shade of the
+peach-trees, riding-parties in the forest, whose echoes are awakened by
+the melancholy notes of the horn, water-parties on the lakes, dances in
+the field and round the wine-press, &c.
+
+Every _château_ is full to overflowing in Le Morvan during the month of
+August,--bands of Parisians, Picards, and Normans, acquaintances
+scarcely made, friends, friends'-friends, with their wives, children,
+dogs, nurses, and luggage arrive each hour and by every road. Every
+family is invaded, beds are doubled, plates are not to be found,--there
+is only one glass for two, one knife for three; the servants, stupified
+and astonished, know not how to reply or which way to turn themselves;
+the cooks, half-roasted and lost amidst an army of sauce-pans, know not
+what they are doing; they put mustard into the _méringues_, cruets of
+vinegar in the soup--every one is on the laugh, except however the heads
+of families, who rendered almost crazy by this tide of human beings
+always rising, by the bell of the _porte cochère_ always ringing, pass
+on from one to the other the new arrivals, with a note as follows:
+
+"Mons. de G.... presents his compliments to Mons. de V...., and has the
+honour to inform him that not possessing in his house one bed or one
+arm-chair that is not occupied, he has the pleasure of sending him two
+Normans and three Parisians."
+
+P.S. "The two Normans are first-rate waltzers, the Parisians perfect
+singers." The reply will perhaps be couched in the following strain:
+
+"Mons. de V.... presents his compliments to Mons. de G...., and has the
+honour to inform him that being himself under the necessity of sleeping
+in his cellar, he cannot, though most anxious to oblige him, receive the
+two Norman dancers and the three Parisian warblers." Thus it sometimes
+happens that very charming, elegant, and sensitive gentlemen, who under
+ordinary circumstances would be very difficult to please, are obliged
+to sleep in a barn or loft, on a very nice bed of clean straw, with a
+dark lantern to light them there, and the luxury of a truss of hay for a
+pillow.
+
+The peasants, generally speaking, do not witness the arrival of these
+visitors with much pleasure,--the dandies more especially, who shod in
+varnished leather, always over-dressed, musked, and starched, attract,
+so they think, too much the attention of the young girls. Fathers,
+mothers, and, above all, lovers, are at once on the look out. They
+mistrust these fine gentlemen, whom they always designate by the
+appellation of "gilded serpents."
+
+My friends from other departments often remarked the looks of aversion
+with which the natives sometimes met them; and not comprehending the
+reason, have asked me for an explanation. Do you observe, I said, that
+little white house, half-hidden yonder in the poplars--there, on the
+banks of the Cure? That house, a few years ago, was the abiding-place of
+a happy and honest family,--a father, and his three daughters.
+
+The father, who in his youth was in very good circumstances, was ruined
+by bad harvests, an epidemic disease in his cattle, and by other
+disasters that cause the downfall of many farmers. Nevertheless, and
+though his losses were great, he lived happy and even contented with his
+children, who, all three of irreproachable conduct and character, and
+excellent needlewomen, did their utmost to ameliorate his position. They
+made dresses for the ladies in the town, worked by the day, and
+sometimes, when they found their earnings during the summer months fall
+short of what they thought sufficient to meet the expenses of the coming
+winter, they hired themselves to some proprietor during the period of
+the _vendange_.
+
+The youngest of the three,--Herminie, she might be about sixteen,--was a
+charming girl, a true child of Nature, fresh as a wild flower, awaking
+and rising every day of the year from her peaceful happy couch with the
+birds of heaven, always smiling and singing. Herminie was the joy, the
+favourite of the old man,--she was the linnet, the darling, and the life
+of the house. One autumnal day, (the period at which, as I have before
+remarked, our province abounds with strangers,) her figure attracted the
+attention of one of those cursed beings, with a false heart and lying
+lips, that the great cities send into our rural districts, carrying with
+them desolation and mourning. I know not in what manner it occurred,
+what falsehoods, what arts he used, or what traps he laid,--but he
+succeeded too well in his base purpose. The poor girl was deceived.
+Easily convinced,--she was too pure, too young to doubt; and her mother,
+who would have been there to watch over her, was alas! sleeping in the
+very churchyard in which, in the shade of the evening, she first met her
+seducer. Enough,--the heartless man of the world obtained the love of
+the poor and simple Herminie,--and his whim, his heartless selfish whim
+gratified,--he disappeared.
+
+The fault, the fault of confiding woman, soon became public. Abandoned
+and betrayed, the poor girl sought death as a refuge in her distress,
+and threw herself into the river; but her father, who watched every
+action of his daughter, was near, and saved her. A man of unusual
+intelligence, and an excellent heart, his maledictions fell entirely
+upon the head of him who had wronged her; for his child he had only
+tears and consolation. Herminie became a mother; her sisters and friends
+were earnest and devoted in their attentions, and anticipated her every
+thought; but broken-hearted, she bent her head like some beautiful lily,
+which has at the parent root some corroding worm. Her gaiety fled, her
+songs ceased; pale and silent, she might be seen standing on some rock,
+listening to the howling of the storm, or, her little boy on her lap,
+seated for hours at her father's cottage door, picking some faded rose
+to pieces leaf by leaf, and looking vacantly on the fragments as they
+lay at her feet.
+
+But at the bottom of her cup of grief was still one more bitter
+drop,--oh! how much more bitter than the rest! Her child, as if
+inheriting the melancholy of its mother, ceased to prattle, to smile; it
+did not thrive, it sickened; and in spite of all her care and watchings,
+of whole nights passed in prayers to the Virgin, to her patron Saint,
+and God, in spite of many an hour of repentant and sorrowing tears,--it
+died! Bowed to the earth by this fresh, this overwhelming misfortune,
+Herminie complained not, but she became more pale: she was sometimes
+found plunged in silent but profound grief, looking towards heaven as if
+seeking there the little precious being the Almighty had taken from her;
+as if she was anxious to follow,--to be at rest, united with her baby
+boy again.
+
+The _vendange_ returned once more; but the perfumed gentleman, the
+villain from the capital, came not again. Herminie was desirous of
+assisting in the labours of the season. "I am," said she, "strong
+enough;" and though her sisters endeavoured to dissuade her, she
+persisted in accompanying them to the vineyard, but there she found her
+strength was unequal to the task, a smile to one, and a kind answer to
+another, was all that she could give,--nevertheless it was remarked,
+during the course of the day that she spoke several times out loud, as
+if conversing with some invisible being. Evening arrived, and the
+waggons carried off their ripe and luscious loads, leaving the young men
+and girls racing up and down the pathways, and amongst the vines,
+endeavouring to smear each other's faces with the purple fruit.
+
+Behind these laughing groups came Herminie, the expression of her dark
+blue eye floating in space, and, like the flight of the swallow, resting
+on nothing. Onward she slowly stepped, idly pushing before her the first
+faded leaves of autumn, withered by the hoar frost; and, instead of the
+intoxicating grape, she carried in her hand a _bouquet_ of the arbutus
+and the _alize_, fruits without perfume, like her own heart, now without
+hope or love. Night came: every eye weary with toil was closed,--the
+chimes alone telling the hours of the night vibrated on the air. Towards
+morning a startling cry of horror was heard from a cottage on the banks
+of the Cure--Herminie was dead! that is to say, her face was paler than
+usual in her sleep; but she awoke no more! I shall ever remember that
+beautiful face, for I had never till then contemplated the countenance
+of one whose spirit had taken its way to that country from which no
+traveller returns.
+
+A few days, and the withered rose-leaves which the poor girl had pulled
+at the cottage door were scattered by the wind; a few more, and the poor
+old father followed his favourite child; and his surviving daughters,
+half-crazed with grief and sorrow, left the neighbourhood. As to him who
+was the original cause of this domestic tragedy,--rich, happy, perhaps a
+deputy and making laws himself,--he lives, and is probably respected. We
+call ourselves a civilized people; we throw into prison a man who
+strikes another,--and we do not punish, we do not cast from society, we
+do not even reproach the base hypocrite, who, with a smile on his lips,
+and for the infamous gratification of his bad, ungovernable, selfish
+passions, becomes the murderer of a whole family. Bad and rotten are the
+laws which permit such infamous practices. Unworthy of trust are the
+legislators who dream not--who never think of preventing these impure
+and festering diseases of our social system. My friends, who had
+listened attentively to the sad tale, turned from me to inspect more
+closely the white cottage by the Cure, and no longer expressed any
+astonishment at the severe countenances of the peasants.
+
+But how does it happen, will the reader say, that so delightful a
+province of France as that of Le Morvan should have remained for
+nineteen centuries unknown to England,--that nation of travellers who
+are to be found in every corner of the globe inhabitable and
+uninhabitable? How is it that such a pearl,--a sporting country
+too,--should have remained buried for so long a period as it were under
+the dark mantle of indifference? And is it to be credited that in a
+district in which are to be found simultaneously wolves and health, wild
+boar and simplicity, the best wines in the world, and all the
+theological virtues, should have remained up to this day hidden--lost in
+the deep shadows of its woods and the solitude of its mountains?
+
+In the first place, then, I must remind you that in order to reach Le
+Morvan it is not necessary to traverse either the Indian Archipelago or
+the Cordilleras, or black or ferocious populations. Those who have by
+accident passed through it, have not been induced by its appearance to
+inscribe its name in their note-books. But Le Morvan is close at hand;
+Le Morvan, so to speak, touches England,--a sufficient reason, as every
+one knows, for taking no interest in it.
+
+Every year caravans of tourists leave for Italy and the East; they go to
+gaze upon the remains of what was once the palace of the famous Zenobia,
+Queen of Palmyra, or to kill the lizards on the steps of the mouldering
+Coliseum; one invites the scorpions of Greece to bite his leg; another
+seeks the yellow fever in the Brazils; a third prefers being robbed in
+Calabria, or dying of thirst in the Deserts of Lybia;--the more distant
+and perilous the journey, the greater the pleasure of accomplishing it.
+Such is English taste.
+
+Yet Le Morvan is a charming and picturesque country--a lovely region,
+clad with verdure, flowers, and forest-trees, and watered by fresh,
+sparkling, and silvery streams, which every one can reach without
+fatigue, much expense, and without the slightest chance of danger, but
+perhaps, as I have before said, its proximity is its misfortune.
+
+Should any one after perusing this volume desire to visit Le Morvan, he
+should be aware that to do so with any degree of pleasure or profit it
+is absolutely necessary to speak French fluently,--for half our
+peasants are not in the least aware the earth is round, and that on it
+there are other nations besides their own. To see its thousand beauties,
+to fish its rivers and enter into its delightful, exciting and perilous
+sports, to plunge without hesitation into the depths of its forests, the
+traveller should also be accompanied by an experienced guide, and
+piloted by a friendly hand.
+
+Le Morvan, unknown to all to-day, would come forth quickly from the
+shell of obscurity in which it lies concealed, if some man of rank in
+England, led thither by hazard or caprice, were to spend a few weeks
+amidst its glades and vineyards, its mountains and its streams.
+
+What was Cannes twenty years since? who ever mentioned it in England,
+who knew its beauties? Nobody. Lord Brougham passes there, stops,
+selects a hill, crowns its top with a white _château_, scatters the gold
+from his purse, and sheds over the little town the lustre of the renown
+won by his versatile genius--Cannes immediately becomes the
+vogue--Cannes is charming, magnificent! Cannes, certainly, with her
+fields of jasmine and roses, her groves of orange-trees, her burning
+sun, blue skies and sea, and her warm pine-woods, is a delightful
+spot;--but Cannes is also a place of languor and sloth, a lavender-water
+country. If you have the gout, if you are old and rich, if you have
+delicate lungs, go to Cannes, your life will be agreeable but
+enervating.
+
+But Le Morvan is certainly not a country for a _petit-mâitre_ or a
+delicate lady to live in; to enjoy yourself there you must have the fire
+and energy of youth in your veins, a stout heart, the lungs of a
+mountaineer, and a sinewy frame. You must love a forester's life, the
+hound and the rifle; you must be a Gordon Cumming in a small way. To the
+English invalid, I would recommend the ex-Chancellor's retreat; but to
+him who in the full sense of the term is a sporting man, or a lover of
+nature, I would say: Go--explore Le Morvan!
+
+
+
+
+  LIFE OF BEAU BRUMMELL.
+
+  A FEW COPIES OF THIS WORK ARE STILL ON HAND.
+
+  Price 10s.; Published at £1 8s.
+
+  SAUNDERS AND OTLEY; or CAWTHORNE'S LIBRARY,
+  Cockspur-street.
+
+
+  SHORTLY WILL BE PUBLISHED,
+
+  A NEW AND VERY EASY METHOD
+
+  OF ASCERTAINING
+
+  THE GENDER OF FRENCH NOUNS,
+
+  Translated from the Manuscript in French
+
+  OF THE
+
+  LATE MONS. FOUCAULT,
+  MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE,
+
+  BY
+
+  CAPTAIN JESSE,
+  AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"
+  "MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its
+Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
+
+***** This file should be named 28573-8.txt or 28573-8.zip *****
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Le Morvan, by Henri De Crignelle.
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild
+Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches
+
+Author: Henri de Crignelle
+
+Translator: Captain Jesse
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2009 [EBook #28573]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Greg Bergquist and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="tn">
+
+<p class="center"><big><b>Transcriber&#8217;s Note</b></big></p>
+
+<p class="noin">The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious
+typographical errors have been corrected.</p>
+
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 376px;">
+<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="376" height="526" alt="Frontispiece" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h1>LE MORVAN,</h1>
+
+<p class="center">[A DISTRICT OF FRANCE,]<br />
+
+<small>ITS</small><br />
+
+<big>WILD SPORTS, VINEYARDS AND FORESTS;</big><br />
+
+<small>WITH</small></p>
+
+<p class="t1"><big>Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches.</big></p>
+
+<p class="center"><br /><br /><small>BY</small><br />
+
+<big>HENRI DE CRIGNELLE,</big><br />
+
+<small>ANCIEN OFFICIER DE DRAGONS.</small><br /><br /><br />
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN FRENCH,<br />
+
+<small>BY</small><br />
+
+<big>CAPTAIN JESSE,</big><br />
+
+<small>AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"<br />
+"MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.</small><br /><br /><br />
+
+SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT-STREET.<br />
+
+1851.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="center">
+<small>LONDON:</small><br />
+PRINTED BY WILLIAM TYLER,<br />
+<small>BOLT-COURT.</small>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Born</span> in one of the most beautiful provinces of France, in a country of
+noble forests and extensive vineyards; brought up in the open air amidst
+the blue hills, and ever wandering over the fields and mountains with a
+gun on my arm&mdash;all the hours of my youth, if I may so say, were spent in
+search of partridges and hares in the dewy stubbles, and in the pursuit
+of the wild cat and the boar in the shady depths of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>When relating the adventures of these different shooting rambles to a
+friend, talking over with him our mode of sporting so different from
+that of England, and when in imagination I carried him along with me
+into the dells and dark ravines, and described to him the chase and
+death-struggle of the ferocious wolf, or the odd characters and
+antediluvian customs of the primitive people amongst whom I passed the
+days of my happy boyhood, astonished, he could hardly believe that such
+sports and such singular personages existed within so short a distance
+of his own country.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not scribble all this?" he would say, "your sketches would make
+capital light reading."</p>
+
+<p>"But to write is not easy; and, besides, what a poor figure I and my
+dogs and wolves, woodcocks and vineyards, would cut after the terrible
+Mr. Gordon Cumming. How could any description of mine interest the
+public in comparison with those of that famous shot and his three
+coffee-coloured Hottentots, with his bands of panthers and giraffes, his
+troops of yellow lions dancing sarabands round the fountains, and his
+jungles and swamps swarming with elephants and hippopotami?"</p>
+
+<p>"But we might be able to go to Le Morvan," said my friend, "whereas few
+indeed, if they wished it, can go to the South of Africa to shoot
+elephants through the small ribs; neither is it probable that many of us
+would like to pass several years of their valuable lives shut up in a
+loose, rolling, sea-bathing-machine-like wagon, with their own beloved
+shadow alone for all Christian company. Let us have a narrative of your
+exploits?"</p>
+
+<p>"You do not consider what you ask," I replied; "my gossip may have
+amused you, but the effusions of my pen would to a certainty make you
+yawn like graves."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," whispered the flatterer, "you will open to us a new country,
+you will confer a real service upon hundreds of restless Englishmen, who
+when summer comes know not for the life of them where to go, or where
+not to go;&mdash;write your work, and advise them to turn their steps to Le
+Morvan at the time of the vintage."</p>
+
+<p>But now another, a huge difficulty, sprung up. Printers do not lend
+their types for nothing any more than they give gratis their time and
+paper. To publish a book is always an expensive affair; misfortune,
+which had touched me with its wing, which has been the sad guest of my
+house, deprived me of the power of undertaking it myself: and where to
+find a person so generous as to take upon himself the responsibility of
+the undertaking? Happily I was in England, in the land of kind hearts
+and warm sympathies. A noble lady, the mother of a distinguished English
+nobleman, who passes her life in doing good, took an interest in my
+forlorn history, and was pleased to honour me with her patronage. With
+this mantle of protection thrown around me, and my generous friend
+having undertaken to bear the responsibilities of publishing, the
+difficulties were soon swept away, and Le Morvan was written.</p>
+
+<p>I had hoped that I should in this Preface be permitted to mention her
+name, which would have been less a compliment to her than an honour to
+me; but her modesty has refused this public acknowledgment of my
+unbounded gratitude,&mdash;a veil of respectful reserve shall therefore
+remain suspended over her name. As for me and mine, we shall treasure it
+in our thankful hearts&mdash;every day shall we pray that the Great Giver of
+all good may confer upon her His most precious and gracious blessings.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+HENRI DE CRIGNELLE.
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">London</span>, <i>August</i>, 1851.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+English propensity to ramble&mdash;Where and how&mdash;Le Morvan&mdash;Vezelay&mdash;Description
+of the town&mdash;Historical associations connected
+with it&mdash;Charles IX.&mdash;Persecutions of the Protestants&mdash;View
+from Vezelay&mdash;Scenery and wild sports&mdash;The Author&mdash;Object
+of the Work</div></td>
+  <td align='right'><i>p.</i> 1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Le Morvan&mdash;Forests&mdash;Climate&mdash;Patriarchs and Damosels&mdash;Peasants
+of the plain and the mountains&mdash;Jovial Cur&eacute;s&mdash;Their love of
+Burgundy&mdash;The Doctor and the Cur&eacute;</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>14</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Geology&mdash;Fossil shells&mdash;Antediluvian salmon&mdash;The Druids&mdash;Chindonax,
+the High Priest&mdash;Roman antiquities&mdash;Julius
+C&aelig;sar's hunting-box&mdash;Lugubrious village&mdash;Carr&eacute;-les-Tombes&mdash;The
+Inquisitive Andalusian</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>26</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Le Morvan during the Middle Ages&mdash;Legendary horrors&mdash;Forest
+of La Goulotte&mdash;La Croix Chavannes&mdash;La Croix Mordienne&mdash;H&ocirc;tel
+de Chanty&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau de Lomervo&mdash;A French Bluebeard&mdash;Citadel
+of Lingou</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>35</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Castle of Bazoche&mdash;Mar&eacute;chal de Vauban&mdash;Relics of the old
+Marshal&mdash;Memorials of Philipsburg&mdash;H&ocirc;tel de Bazarne&mdash;Madame
+de Pompadour's ma&icirc;tre d'h&ocirc;tel&mdash;Proof of the <i>cur&eacute;s'</i>
+grief&mdash;Farm of St. Hibaut&mdash;Youthful recollections&mdash;Monsieur
+de Cheribalde&mdash;Navarre the Four-Pounder&mdash;His culverin</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>43</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a>.</big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Bird's-eye view of the forests&mdash;The student's visit to his uncle
+in the country&mdash;Sallies forth in the early morning&mdash;Meets a
+cuckoo&mdash;Follows him&mdash;The cuckoo too much for him&mdash;Gives
+up the pursuit&mdash;Finds he has lost his way&mdash;Agreeable vespers&mdash;Night
+in the forest&mdash;Wolves&mdash;Up a beech tree&mdash;A friend in
+need&mdash;The student bids adieu to Le Morvan</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>55</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Charms of a forest life to the sportsman&mdash;The Poachers&mdash;Le
+P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin&mdash;His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers&mdash;The
+first buck&mdash;A bad shot</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>65</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin's collation&mdash;The young sportsman and the hare&mdash;The
+quarrel&mdash;The apology&mdash;The reconciliation&mdash;The cemetery&mdash;Bait
+for barbel&mdash;Le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin's deceased friends&mdash;The return
+home</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>75</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Passage of the woodcock in November&mdash;Laziness of that bird&mdash;Night
+travelling&mdash;Mode of snaring them at night&mdash;Numbers
+taken in this way&mdash;This sport adapted rather for the poacher&mdash;The
+<i>braconnier</i> of Le Morvan&mdash;His mode of life&mdash;The
+poacher's dog&mdash;The double poacher</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>88</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+The woodcock&mdash;Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan&mdash;Aversion
+of dogs to this bird&mdash;Timidity of the woodcock&mdash;Its cunning&mdash;Shooting
+in November&mdash;The Woodcock mates&mdash;The Woodcock<br />
+fly</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>100</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Fine names&mdash;Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages&mdash;Gustavus
+Adolphus no hero!&mdash;The Parisian Sportsman&mdash;Partridge
+shooting despicable&mdash;Wild boar-hunting&mdash;Rousing the grisly
+monster&mdash;His approach&mdash;The post of honour&mdash;Good nerves&mdash;The
+death&mdash;The trophy and congratulations</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>117</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+The <i>Mares</i>&mdash;Manner in which they are formed in the depths of
+the forest&mdash;<i>Mare</i> No. 1.&mdash;Description of it&mdash;The appearance
+of the spot&mdash;Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge&mdash;Approach
+of the birds&mdash;Animals that frequent the <i>Mares</i> in the
+evening</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>141</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Appearance of the <i>Mare</i> in the morning&mdash;Forest etiquette&mdash;Mode
+of obtaining possession of the best <i>Mare</i>&mdash;Every subterfuge
+fair&mdash;The jocose sportsman&mdash;The quarrel&mdash;Reveries
+in the hut&mdash;Comparison between meeting a lady and watching
+for a wolf</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>157</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+<i>Mare</i> No. 2.&mdash;Description of it&mdash;Not sought after by the sportsman&mdash;The
+sick banker&mdash;The doctor's prescription&mdash;The patient's
+disgust at it&mdash;Is at length obliged to yield&mdash;Leaves Paris for
+Le Morvan&mdash;Consequences to the inmates of the ch&acirc;teau&mdash;The
+banker convalescent</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>170</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Summer months in the Forest&mdash;<i>Mare</i> No. 3.&mdash;Description of it&mdash;The
+Woodcock fly&mdash;The Banker has a day's sport&mdash;Arrives at
+the <i>Mare</i>&mdash;Difficult to please in his choice of a hut&mdash;Proceeds
+to a larger <i>Mare</i>&mdash;His friends retire&mdash;The Banker on the alert
+for a Wolf or a Boar&mdash;Fires at some animal&mdash;The unfortunate
+discovery&mdash;Rage of the Parisian&mdash;Pays for his blunder, and
+recovers his temper</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>188</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+The <i>Cur&eacute;</i> of the Mountain&mdash;Toby Gold Button&mdash;Hospitality&mdash;The
+<i>Cur&eacute;'s</i> pig&mdash;His hard fate and reflections&mdash;The <i>Cur&eacute;</i> of
+the plain&mdash;His worth and influence&mdash;The agent of the
+Government&mdash;Landed Proprietors&mdash;Their influence&mdash;The
+Orator&mdash;Dialogue with a Peasant</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>207</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+The wolf&mdash;His aspect and extreme ferocity&mdash;His cunning in
+hunting his prey&mdash;His unsocial nature&mdash;Antiquity of the
+race&mdash;Where found, and their varieties&mdash;Annihilated in
+England by the perseverance of the kings and people&mdash;Decrees
+and rewards to encourage their destruction by Athelstane,
+John, and Edward I.&mdash;Death of the last wolf in
+England&mdash;Death of the last in Ireland</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>221</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+The <i>battues</i> of May and December&mdash;The gathering of sportsmen&mdash;Preparations
+in the forest&mdash;The <i>charivari</i>&mdash;The fatal rush&mdash;Excitement
+of the moment&mdash;The volley&mdash;The day's triumph,
+and the reward&mdash;The peasants returning&mdash;Hunting the wolf
+with dogs&mdash;Cub-hunting&mdash;The drunken wolf</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>236</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement&mdash;The <i>Traquenard</i>&mdash;Mode
+of setting this trap&mdash;A night in the forest with Navarre&mdash;The
+young lover&mdash;Dreadful accident that befell him&mdash;His
+courage and efforts to escape&mdash;The fatal catastrophe&mdash;The
+poor mad mother</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>248</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Shooting wolves in the summer&mdash;The most approved baits to
+attract them&mdash;Fatal error&mdash;Hut-shooting&mdash;Silent joviality&mdash;The
+approach of the wolves&mdash;The first volley&mdash;The retreat&mdash;The
+final slaughter&mdash;The sportsman's reward&mdash;The farm-yard
+near St. Hibaut&mdash;The dead colt&mdash;The onset&mdash;Scene in
+the morning&mdash;Horrible accident&mdash;The gallant farmer&mdash;Death
+of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant&mdash;The wolf-skin drum&mdash;Anathema
+of the naturalists</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>261</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Fishing in Le Morvan&mdash;The naturalist&mdash;The <i>Gour</i> of Akin&mdash;The
+English lady&mdash;The mountain streams&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau de
+Chatelux&mdash;Sermiselle&mdash;New mode of killing pike&mdash;Pierre
+Pertuis&mdash;The rocks and whirlpool there&mdash;The syrens of the
+grotto&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau des Panolas&mdash;The Cousin&mdash;The ponds of
+Marot and lakes of Lomervo&mdash;Mode of taking fish with live
+trimmers&mdash;The Scotch farmer</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>280</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr1'>
+ <td align='center' colspan='2'><big><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></big></td>
+</tr>
+<tr class='tr2'>
+ <td align='left' width='90%'><div class="hang">
+Village <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>&mdash;The first of May&mdash;The religious festivals&mdash;The <i>F&ecirc;te
+Dieu</i>&mdash;Appearance of the streets&mdash;The altars erected in them&mdash;Procession
+from the church&mdash;Country fairs&mdash;The book-stalls
+at them&mdash;Pictures of the Roman Catholic Church&mdash;Before the
+<i>Vendange</i>&mdash;Proprietor's hopes and fears&mdash;Shooting in the vineyards&mdash;The
+first day of the <i>Vendange</i>&mdash;Appearance of the
+country&mdash;Influx of visitors at this season&mdash;The consequences&mdash;Herminie&mdash;Her
+sad history&mdash;Le Morvan&mdash;Recommended to
+the English traveller&mdash;Lord Brougham and Cannes&mdash;Contrast
+between it and Le Morvan</div></td>
+  <td align='right'>297</td>
+</tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="LE_MORVAN" id="LE_MORVAN"></a>LE MORVAN.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">English propensity to ramble&mdash;Where and how&mdash;Le
+Morvan&mdash;Vezelay&mdash;Description of the town&mdash;Historical associations
+connected with it&mdash;Charles IX.&mdash;Persecutions of the
+Protestants&mdash;View from Vezelay&mdash;Scenery and wild sports&mdash;The
+Author&mdash;Object of the Work. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Every</span> nation has its characteristics, and amongst those which are
+peculiar to the genius of the English people, is their ardent and
+insatiable love of wandering.</p>
+
+<p>To locomote is absolutely necessary to every Englishman; in his heart is
+profoundly rooted a passion for long journeys; each and all of them, old
+and young, healthy and sickly, would if they could take not merely the
+grand tour, but circulate round the two hemispheres with all the
+pleasure imaginable. At a certain period of the year, when the
+weathercock points the right way, the sun burns<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> in the sign of the
+Lion, and the husbandman bends his weary form to gather in the golden
+corn, the legs of the rich Englishman begin to be nervously agitated, he
+feels a sense of suffocation, and pants for change&mdash;of air, of place, of
+everything; he girds up his loins, and without throwing a glance behind
+him, it is Hey, Presto! begone! and he is off. Where?</p>
+
+<p>It is autumn, blessed autumn, the season of harvest and sunny days; the
+English are everywhere&mdash;they fly from their own dear island like clouds
+of chilly swallows, light upon Europe as thick as thrushes in an
+orchard, and are soon mingled with every nation of the earth, like the
+blue corn flowers in the ripe barley fields. Yes, from north to south,
+from east to west, go where you will, you cannot proceed ten miles
+without meeting a smiling rosy English girl coquettishly concealed under
+her large green veil, and a grave British gentleman, whistling to the
+wide world in the sheer enjoyment of having nothing to do but to look at
+it.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen green veils climbing the Pyramids; I have seen green veils
+diving down into the dark mines of the Oural; I have seen an English
+gentleman perched like a chamois on the top of St. Bernard, hat in hand,
+roaring "God save the Queen." I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> seen some sipping Syracusan wine,
+puffing a comfortable cloud from obese cigars, most irreverently seated
+in the big nose of St. Carlo Borromeo. One-half of England is gone to
+China, the other half to Africa; these will speak to you of Kamschatka,
+those of the mountains of the Moon, just as a London cockney or a
+Parisian <i>badaud</i> would speak to you of Greenwich or of Bagnolet. Some
+have boxed with the bears of the Pyrenees; others have killed lions and
+tigers by dozens; one has crossed the Nile on a crocodile, another vows
+he waltzed with a dying hippopotamus, and several have bagged
+camelopards and elephants by scores. In short, they have trodden with a
+bold disdainful step all the high-roads and by-roads of our wondrous
+planet, displaying, in every quarter of the compass, the daring and
+devil-may-care spirit of their youth and the spleen of their mature age,
+as well as the yellow guineas from their long and well-filled purses.</p>
+
+<p>Well, then, ask of all this wandering tribe, who boast of having been
+everywhere, and seen everything; ask those travelling birds who have
+flown through France and Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Palestine;
+who have sledged in Russia and fished in Norway; who have lost
+themselves in the prairies of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> far West, or in the Pampas, the
+gorges of the Andes, or the Alleghanies; who have bronzed their
+epidermis in the fierce heat of the tropics, or moistened their fair
+<i>chevelure</i> in the diamond spray of Niagara; who have, in fine,
+journeyed through calm and hurricane, snow-storms, sirocco, and simoom;
+who have rubbed noses&mdash;male noses&mdash;of the tattooed savage; mounted
+donkeys, ostriches, camelopards, lamas, and dromedaries; mules, wild
+asses, negroes, and elephants; ask them all if once in their lives&mdash;one
+single once&mdash;they have seen or even heard of <span class="smcap">Le Morvan</span>?</p>
+
+<p>Not one of these thousands will answer yes. Le Morvan, where is it? what
+is Le Morvan? Is it a mountain, a church, a river, a star, a flower, a
+bird? Le Morvan, who knows anything about Le Morvan? Echo answers, "Who
+knows?" Paddy Blake's replies, "Nobody." And yet all of you roving
+English, who delight in athletic sports and rural scenes&mdash;the forest
+glade and murmuring streams, a view halloo and the gallant hound; who
+love the bleak and healthy moors, the cool retreats, the flowery paths,
+and mountain solitudes, how happy would you be in Le Morvan. Where,
+then, is Le Morvan?</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan is a district of France, in which are included portions of the
+departments of the Ni&egrave;vre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> and the Yonne, having on the west the
+vineyards of Burgundy, and on the east the mountains of the Nivernois.
+Its ancient and picturesque capital, Vezelay, crowns a hill 2,000 feet
+in height, and commands a panoramic view of the country for thirty miles
+round. It has all the characteristics of a town of the feudal times,
+with high embattled and loopholed walls, numerous towers, and deep and
+strong gateways, under which are still to be seen the grooves of the
+portcullis, the warder's guard-room, and the hooks that supported the
+heavy drawbridge.</p>
+
+<p>The capital of Le Morvan partially owed its rise to a celebrated
+nunnery, founded by Gerard de Roussillon, a great hero of romance and
+chivalry, who lived, loved, and fought under Pepin, the father of the
+grand Charlemagne. This nunnery, which was sacked and burnt to the
+ground by the Saracens, those terrible warriors of the East, was
+restored in the ninth century, and fortified; and as the sainted inmates
+were believed to have amongst their relics a tress of the golden hair of
+the beautiful and repentant Magdalen, troops of the faithful&mdash;and people
+were ready to believe a great deal in those days&mdash;flocked to Vezelay,
+when it soon became a large and flourishing town.</p>
+
+<p>In the tenth century, when the people, in their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> endeavour to shake off
+a few links of their fetters, refused to bend their bodies in the dust
+before their lords and their minds before their priests&mdash;when the seeds
+of liberty, till then lying in unprofitable ground, though watered for
+centuries by the tears of tyranny and oppression, first germinated and
+rose above the earth, who gave the signal of resistance in France?&mdash;the
+inhabitants of Vezelay. Yes; it is to her citizens that the honour
+belongs of having first refused to submit to the power, the domineering
+power, of political and ecclesiastical rule; it was her brave
+inhabitants who, assembling in secret, thought not of the peril, but,
+having promised help and protection one to the other, flew to arms. A
+short and desperate struggle ensued, but the victory remained in the
+hands of the abbot of Vezelay. Hundreds of brave men were put, without
+mercy, to the sword, and many, with less mercy, burnt alive or died by
+the torture in the dark dungeons of the abbatical palace. Vezelay still
+preserves in its archives the names of twelve of these martyrs.</p>
+
+<p>Again in the twelfth century, when the cry to the rescue of the Holy
+Sepulchre shook all Europe, and every nation poured forth her tens of
+thousands to drive the infidel from that land in which their Redeemer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+had lived and died an ignominious and cruel death, it was at Vezelay
+that Pope Eugenius III. assembled a great council of the princes of the
+church, the great barons, and chivalry of those times. It was in her
+immense cathedral, one of the oldest and largest in the kingdom, amidst
+the clang of arms, war cries, and religious chaunts, and in the presence
+of Louis le Jeune, King of France, that St. Bernard preached, in 1146,
+the Second Crusade.</p>
+
+<p>Vezelay is celebrated as having been the birth-place of Beza, the great
+Protestant Reformer (1519), who succeeded not only to the place but to
+the influence of Calvin, and was, after that eminent man's death,
+regarded as the head and leader of the Genevese church.</p>
+
+<p>It was to Vezelay, the only town that dared to offer them the protection
+of its walls, that the unfortunate Protestants fled after the horrible
+massacre of St. Bartholomew's&mdash;the base political cruelty of the brutal
+homicide, Charles IX. Tracked and hunted down like wild beasts, and a
+price set upon their heads, they found staunch and noble hearts in the
+inhabitants of Vezelay; but, ere long, an army of their insatiable foes
+arrived and besieged the town, and treachery at a postern one stormy
+night made them masters of it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> when scenes of horror followed under the
+mask of religion that even at this distance of time make one recoil with
+terror and disgust at the dogmas of the corrupt faith which dictated
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Roasting men alive, and boiling women, dashing out the brains of many a
+cherub boy and prattling girl, was the pleasing and satisfactory pastime
+with which Pope Gregory, Catherine de Medicis, and her congenial son
+gladdened their Christian hearts. The blood of their victims still cries
+to us from the ground of their Golgotha; for on the south side of the
+town there is a large green field, called <i>Le Champ des Huguenots</i>. The
+damning fact, from which this spot received its name, has been handed
+down to us by the historian. It is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>The Catholics, having instituted a strict search in the woods and
+caverns of the environs, made so many prisoners that they were puzzled
+what to do with them&mdash;nay, in what manner they should take their lives.
+Among many ingenious experiments, it was suggested that they should bury
+them alive up to their necks in the field to which we have alluded; and
+this was accordingly done with nine of them, whose heads were bowled at
+with cannon-balls taken from the adjoining rampart, as if they had been
+blocks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> of wood instead of live human heads. The shrieks of the
+miserable beings excited no compassion; on the contrary, it afforded
+amusement to their executioners: so that games of skittles upon the same
+principle were played the whole length of this meadow.</p>
+
+<p>Turning aside from these execrable deeds of man to the works of Nature
+and of Nature's God, which have always been and always must be lovely
+and worthy of our deepest admiration, let us dwell for a moment upon the
+splendid view from the castle-terrace, which forms the principal
+promenade of Vezelay. Shaded by large and venerable trees, through the
+lofty branches of which many a storm has howled for nearly four hundred
+years, the sight from hence is one of the finest panoramic views in
+France.</p>
+
+<p>All around, whether on the slope of the hills by the river-side, in the
+middle distance, or near the mountains which form the horizon, are seen
+hundreds of little villages, and many a white villa scattered among the
+green vines as daisies on the turf. To the left and right are St. P&egrave;re
+and Akin, two hamlets, which seem like faithful dogs sleeping at the
+foot of the mountain crowned by Vezelay. The province in which this
+cloud-capped fortress-town is situated is a retired spot out of the
+beaten track of the tourist,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> the man of business, or the man of
+pleasure&mdash;lost, as it were, in the very heart of beautiful France, like
+a wild strawberry in the depth of the forest&mdash;encircled by woods, and
+unknown to the foreigner, who, in his rapid journey to Geneva or to
+Lyons, almost elbows it without dreaming of its existence.</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan rears in its sylvan depths a population of hardy and honest
+men and lovely women, fresh as roses, and gay as butterflies. There the
+soft evening breezes are charged with the songs of ten thousand birds,
+the odours of the eglantine, the lily of the valley, and the violet,
+which, shaking off its winter slumbers, opens its dark blue eye and
+combines its perfume with that of its snowy companion.</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan is a country that would delight an Englishman, for it is full
+of game; here the sportsman may vary his pleasures as fancy dictates.
+The forest abounds with deer; the plain with rabbits and the timid hare;
+and in the vineyards, during the merry season of the vintage, the fat
+red-stockinged and gray-clad partridges are bagged by bushels. Here the
+sportsman may watch in the open glades the treacherous wild cat and the
+bounding roebuck; and, should these sports appear too tame, he may, if
+foot and heart are sound, plunge into the dark recesses of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> the forest
+in pursuit of the savage and grisly boar, or the fierce and prowling
+wolf.</p>
+
+<p>When evening comes, bringing with it peace and rest to the industrious
+peasant, when the moon shall light her bright lamp in the star-spangled
+heavens, and shed her silvery rays across the plain, the hunter may lead
+forth the village belle, and foot it merrily on the mossy greensward, to
+the sound of the bagpipe and the rustic flute, by fountains which never
+cease their monotonous but soothing plaint, and under the long shadows
+of the ancient oaks and tall acacias.</p>
+
+<p>Happiness, says Solomon, consists not in the possession of that gold for
+which men toil so unremittingly and grave deep wrinkles on the heart and
+brow. Happiness lights not her torch at the crystal lustres in the halls
+of royalty; she rarely chooses for her home the marble palaces of the
+wealthy, nor is she often the companion of the great, robed in costly
+apparel; rarely does she braid her hair with pearls, or wear the rosy
+lightning of the ruby on her fair bosom.</p>
+
+<p>Happiness is known only to him who, free and contented, lives unknown in
+his little corner, deaf to the turmoil and insensible to the excitements
+of the selfish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> crowd, and ignorant of the sorrows and sufferings of
+great cities. She is found in the enjoyment of the sunshine and the open
+air, in the shady groves and flowery fields, by the side of the
+murmuring brooks, and in the society of the gay, frank, and
+simple-minded peasant of my own dear country. Oh! my white and pretty
+<i>pavillon</i>, whose walls are clad with fragrant creepers and the luscious
+vine, whose porch is scented with the woodbine and the rose&mdash;oh! lovely
+valleys, dark forests, deep blue lakes which sleep unruffled in the
+bosom of the hills, beautiful vine-clad hills, where in the morning of
+my youth I chased those flying flowers, the bright and painted
+butterflies&mdash;oh! when, when shall I see you all again&mdash;like the bird of
+passage, which, when the winter is over, returns to his sunny home? When
+shall I see thee again? Oh! my sweet Le Morvan! Oh! my native land!
+Happy, thrice happy they who cherish in their hearts the love of nature,
+who prefer her sublime and incomparable beauties to the false and
+artificial works of man, accumulated with so much cost and care within
+the walls of her great cities. Happy, too, are those who have not been
+carried away by the fatal flood of misfortune from the paternal hearth,
+who have always lived in sight of that home which sheltered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> their merry
+childhood, and whose lives, pure and peaceful as the noiseless stream of
+the valley, close in calmness and serenity like the twilight of a bright
+summer's day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Le Morvan&mdash;Forests&mdash;Climate&mdash;Patriarchs and Damosels&mdash;Peasants of
+the plain and the mountaineer&mdash;Jovial Cur&eacute;s&mdash;Their love of
+Burgundy&mdash;The Doctor and the Cur&eacute;. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Le Morvan</span>, anciently Morvennium, or Pagus Morvinus, as C&aelig;sar calls it in
+his Commentaries, comprises, as we have before remarked, a portion of
+the departments of the Ni&egrave;vre and the Yonne, lying between vine-clad
+Burgundy and the mountains of the Nivernois. Its productions are
+various; in the plains are grown wheat, rye, hemp, oats, and flax: on
+the mountain side the grape is largely cultivated; and in the valleys
+are rich verdant meadows, where countless droves of oxen, knee-deep in
+the luxuriant grass, feed and fatten in peace and abundance.</p>
+
+<p>But the real and inexhaustible wealth of Le Morvan is in its forests. In
+these several thousand trees are felled annually, sawn into logs,
+branded and thrown by cart-loads into the neighbouring torrent, which,
+on reaching a more tranquil stream, are lashed into rafts, when they
+drift onwards to the Seine, and are eventually borne on the waters of
+that river to the capital. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> forests of the Ni&egrave;vre are some of the
+most extensive in France; thick and dark, and formed of ancient oaks,
+maple, and spreading beech, they cover nearly 200,000 acres of ground.
+Those of the Yonne are larger but of a character far less wild.</p>
+
+<p>The climate of this part of France is delightful; with the exception of
+occasional showers, very little rain falls; the sky is serene, and
+scarcely ever is a vagabond cloud seen in the ethereal blue to throw a
+shadow upon the lovely landscape beneath. For six months of the year the
+sun is daily refulgent in the heavens, and sets evening after evening in
+all his glorious majesty. But in the woods it is not thus; the storms
+there are sometimes terrible, and, like those of the tropics, arise and
+terminate with wonderful rapidity. These tempests, which purify the
+atmosphere, leave behind them a delicious coolness, the trees and
+shrubs, as they shake from their trembling leaves their sparkling tears,
+appear so bright&mdash;the flowers which raise again their drooping heads,
+load the air with such delightful odours&mdash;the whole forest, in short,
+seems so refreshed and full of life, that every one hails their
+approach, the toil-worn peasant breathes without complaint the sultry
+air, and observes with pleasure the dark and lowering clouds gathering
+in the far horizon.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p><p>From the mountains, those huge ladders of granite that God has planted
+upon the earth, as if to invite ungrateful man to come nearer to him,
+descend many a stream and dancing rill of pure and crystal waters. No
+part of France can be said to be more salubrious. "Centenarians" are by
+no means uncommon, and a patriarch of that age may be found in several
+families.</p>
+
+<p>When Sunday comes, always a <i>jour de f&ecirc;te</i> as well as a day of prayer,
+it is very pleasing to see one of these venerable men, dressed in his
+best clothes, walking to church at the head of his children,
+grand-children, and great grand-children. Long and of snowy whiteness is
+his hair, and glossy white as threads of purest silver is his beard&mdash;his
+hat, of quaker broadness in the brim, is generally encircled, in the
+early days of Spring, with a wreath of the common primrose, and his dark
+cloth mantle, of home-spun fabric, hangs gracefully on his shoulders,
+showing underneath it the dark red sash that girds his still healthy and
+vigorous frame. Tall and grave, erect and majestic as the oaks of their
+native forests, these patriarchs bespeak every one's respect, and when
+looking on them you might imagine they were men of another age, a
+generation of by-gone years, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> might fancy them some ancient Druids
+that have escaped from their dusty tombs, from centuries of night, to
+tread once more the pathways of this planet.</p>
+
+<p>And the women, heaven and earth! how sweetly pretty, how amiable and
+adorable; and such eyes, dark and lustrous!&mdash;full of witchcraft, burning
+and humid as an April sun after a shower. Some there are, also, of
+pensive blue, pregnant with promises, soft and almond-shaped, like the
+divine eyes of the Italian Cenci. Supple as the young and slender
+branches of willow, are these divinities, fresh as new opened tulips,
+and brisk and gay as the golden-speckled trout in the sparkling current.
+In their charms is found a terrestrial paradise, a compound of delicious
+qualities which intoxicate the senses, hook the heart, and like the bite
+of the Sicilian tarantella, steep the loved one in delirium.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the women of Le Morvan are lovely, ardent, and tender-hearted as
+the dove, especially those who dwell within the forest districts; for
+nothing contributes so much to bring forth the loving principle of the
+affections as the silent melancholy of the umbrageous woods, and the
+soft and perfumed breezes that pervade them. Here, in the dusk and
+stillness of the summer evenings, these wood-nymphs hear in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> lofty
+branches of the linden, the endearing love songs of the feathered tribe,
+and when night throws its charitable gloom over their blushing cheeks,
+they whisper at the trysting place what they have heard and seen to
+their rustic admirers.</p>
+
+<p>We have just briefly sketched the two extremes, the old men of Le Morvan
+and its sprightly damosels: we must now mention the inhabitants
+generally, and these vary like its productions according to locality.
+The peasant of the plains is civil, gentle, and industrious, but cunning
+and dangerous as an old fox; and if he thinks money may be squeezed from
+your pocket, be sure there will be no sleep for him till he has taken
+some out of it. Full of fun, he loves above all the dance, the song, the
+merry laugh, and good cheer&mdash;and the uncorking of a bottle would be for
+him a supreme delight, if this excellence itself was not superseded, by
+the far greater blessedness of emptying it.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitant of the mountain, on the other hand, is sober, severe and
+roughly barked&mdash;clothed with silence and gravity, smiling but once a
+year&mdash;the day he has cheated a good man of the plain; he does not please
+so much at first sight: but if in any danger, if you are surprised by a
+hurricane, surrounded with wolves; or you have lost your way, in a night
+as dark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> as the grave itself, you call and ask his help, oh! it is then
+that his sterling qualities shine forth in all their splendour. Always
+ready, always on the look out, the ear for ever bent to catch the
+well-known sounds of the forest, the slightest indication of distress
+awakes his vigilance; it is then he comes, it is then he flies, and his
+arm, gun, and eyes&mdash;his cabin, dog, and lean horse are all at your
+command.</p>
+
+<p>Admirable example of courage and of devotedness: money for him is
+nothing; happy to be useful, he obliges for the mere pleasure of
+obliging. Many, many times have I seen poachers, cottagers,
+charcoal-burners, and wood-cutters, poor as Job, hardly breeched, hungry
+as a whole Irish borough, leave their work, their sport, their field,
+their tree half down,&mdash;abandon in the roads, under the guard of the
+dogs, their carts and oxen, and go some dozen of miles, through storm
+and tempest, through rush, rock, and swamp, to set a sportsman in his
+right way again. Without saying a word, with steps attendant on his
+weary progress, they trudge on before, making a sign for him to follow;
+and when they have placed him once more on his road, a nod, a shake of
+the hand, a smile, a kind word falling from his lips, pays them the full
+price of all their troubles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> Never have I seen one of them accept the
+least pecuniary reward for such services&mdash;they do nothing but their
+duty, they say; and as they are happy in the firm conviction that the
+whole forest belongs to them, they think they are only doing the honours
+of their green drawing-rooms. Thus it always happens, that when, by
+their good care, you have escaped certain danger, it is with great
+difficulty, and only after a deluge of rhetoric, that they consent to
+accept for their daughters or wives a red wool dress, a gold cross, or a
+row of large blue Pundaram beads; or for themselves a few dozen of iron
+bullets, a bag of shot, or a flask of powder. This abnegation, this
+frankness of the heart, this kind sympathy for every stranger, is
+universal among the mountaineers; these benevolent and kindly feelings
+are a portion of their holy traditions, and as such are most religiously
+grafted by every mother into the soft wax-like hearts of her dear little
+ones.</p>
+
+<p>But while delighting to describe the virtues of these denizens of the
+forests, these amiable fauns and jolly satyrs, I must not forget those
+jovial trencher-men, the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> of Le Morvan. Every sportsman
+possesses, or should possess, the digestion of an ostrich; for his
+appetite is generally prodigious,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and the viands that fall in his way
+are not always the most savoury. When, however, the venison pasty, the
+truffled turkey, or the <i>pain de gibier</i> is within his reach, no one is
+so capable of enjoying and doing justice to these delicacies of the
+table, of knocking off so dexterously the neck of the champagne bottle
+when the corkscrew is absent, or whose legs are stretched out so
+gracefully at the sight of brimming glasses and <i>recherch&eacute;</i> viands.</p>
+
+<p>In these, his fallen moments, and after a good day's sport, a Morvinian
+would tell you he could drink all the Burgundian cellars dry,&mdash;aye, and
+those of Champagne too; and as to smoking, why, he would smoke a whole
+crop of tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>To all keen sportsmen, therefore, who love good eating and wine, and
+intend to pay a visit to Le Morvan, I would give this piece of advice,
+and I would say to them, place it in the secret drawer of your memory;
+nay, carry it written, and, if necessary, painted on your knapsack or
+scratched upon your gun&mdash;fail not to make the acquaintance of the <i>cur&eacute;</i>
+the darling <i>cur&eacute;s</i>. Ask who are they that love the best <i>cuisine</i>&mdash;who
+dote upon the most delicious morsels&mdash;who will have the oldest, purest,
+and most generous wines?&mdash;you will be answered, the <i>cur&eacute;s</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> For whom
+are destined the largest trout, the fattest capons, and the best parts
+of the venison?&mdash;for whom the softest and most choice liqueurs, wine of
+the best <i>bouquet</i>, the largest truffles, the most luscious honey, the
+best vegetables, and finest fruits?&mdash;for the <i>cur&eacute;s</i>. And the most
+clever men-cooks, the happiest receipts, and latest culinary
+inventions&mdash;for whom are they? the answer is always, <i>for messieurs les
+cur&eacute;s</i>. Forget them not, therefore, for they are really worth
+remembering; besides, they have excellent hearts and are capital
+fellows, boon companions, full of <i>bonhommie</i> and good-nature: in fact,
+such <i>cur&eacute;s</i> it is impossible to find anywhere else.</p>
+
+<p>But the great Architect of the universe has said, nothing is
+perfect&mdash;everything human has its weak point. Well, it cannot be helped,
+and it must be told, the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> of Le Morvan have their weak points;
+trifles, to be sure&mdash;mere bagatelles&mdash;but still they have them. They are
+rather <i>too</i> fond of old wine and good cheer. These two charming little
+defects excepted,&mdash;you have in the Morvinian <i>cur&eacute;</i> goodness double
+distilled, and the essence of generosity, and, be it said, abnegation.
+This love of the bottle they imbibe from their dear colleagues of
+Burgundy; for it is well known, and has never been disputed, that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+Burgundian <i>cur&eacute;s</i> are the greatest exterminators, uncorkers, and
+emptiers of wine-bottles in all Christendom. The first thing these
+jovial clergymen think of when they open their eyes in the morning, is
+an invocation to Bacchus, somewhat in the following strain: "O Bacchus!
+son of Semele, divine wine-presser! O vineyards! full of the purple
+grape! O wine-press! inestimable machine!" &amp;c. Their second movement is
+to extend the right arm, and clasp within their digits a flask of old
+Pouilli, the contents of which they swallow without once stopping to
+take breath. "An infallible remedy," say they, "against the devil and
+all future indigestions."</p>
+
+<p>Fortified thus with this their first orison, they throw on their
+cassock, and descend to the cellar, to count the bottles, or tap and
+taste the barrels of some doubtful vintage. The thorough-bred Burgundian
+<i>cur&eacute;</i>, particularly one who has lived and got old and fat in the
+solitude of a retired presbytery,&mdash;whose rubicund nose reveals his
+admiration for the vineyards of his native province, and whose three
+chins tell you that with pullets, and venison, and clouted cream he has
+lined his scrip,&mdash;is certainly one of the most jovial and best of men.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>Ask him for indulgences, absolution, masses and prayers for the living
+and the dead; he will grant them all. Ask him for his niece in marriage;
+ask him to marry you, to baptize you, to bury you; he will do it
+all&mdash;yes, all for nothing! It is not in his nature to refuse anything.
+Ask him for his new cassock, his cane, or his hat, his black silk
+stockings, or his silver buckles, and they are yours. No one so ready to
+forgive an insult or forget an injury as he. But, by the blood of the
+Mirabels, give him not a bottle of bad or sour wine, for he will neither
+forget nor forgive it; and above all things, never give him a hint that
+it would be well if he gave up his favourite fluid, for be assured, you
+would forfeit his friendship for ever. Sooner would he consent to lose a
+leg or all his teeth, than give up his life-loved Burgundy! Tell him he
+will have an attack of apoplexy; tell him that he will be taken off
+suddenly by inflammation, and that water therefore should be his
+beverage; he will reply with a smack of his lips, and a castanet noise
+with his fingers. "Nonsense, my boy&mdash;stuff and rubbish! Pass the wine,
+my son; pass it again. Pass the ham, gentlemen. Fill a bumper. Hurrah
+for old Burgundy! hurrah for her wines! Confound the pale fluid, and a
+fig for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> gout!" Such are the ebullitions of his heart in his jovial
+moments; and the following lines, which would spoil in the translation,
+give a lively picture of them:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Pour trop bien boire un cur&eacute; de Bourgogne<br />
+De son pauvre &#339;il se trouvait d&eacute;ferr&eacute;,<br />
+Un docteur vint:&mdash;Voici de la besogne<br />
+Dit-il, pour plus d'un jour;&mdash;Je patienterai!<br />
+&Ccedil;a vous boirez:&mdash;Eh bien! soit, je boirai!<br />
+Quatre grands mois:&mdash;Plut&ocirc;t douze, mon ma&icirc;tre.<br />
+Cette tisane!&mdash;A moi? hurla le pr&ecirc;tre,<br />
+<i>Vade retro!</i> Gu&eacute;rir par le poison!<br />
+Non, par ma soif! perdons une f&eacute;n&egrave;tre,<br />
+Puisqu'il le faut, mais&mdash;<i>Sauvons la Maison</i>."<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Geology&mdash;Fossil shells&mdash;Antediluvian salmon&mdash;The Druids&mdash;Chindonax,
+the High Priest&mdash;Roman antiquities&mdash;Julius C&aelig;sar's
+hunting-box&mdash;Lugubrious village&mdash;Carr&eacute;-les-Tombes&mdash;The Inquisitive
+Andalusian. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Le Morvan</span>, independently of its hunting and fishing, its lovely climate
+and fine wines, pretty girls and jolly <i>cur&eacute;s</i>, possesses a more
+important class of beauties and perfections, secrets and enigmas, over
+which the <i>savans</i> would pore and ponder through many a day and many a
+night: those men who, like Eve, long to grasp the fatal apple&mdash;the apple
+which destroys while it attracts&mdash;the apple whose flavour, alas! is so
+bitter,&mdash;the apple of science. Let the geologists, who are ever bending
+in earnest study over the mysteries of nature, and breaking stones by
+the road-side,&mdash;who are ever seeking to analyse the <i>mat&eacute;riel</i> of
+creation,&mdash;who are always contemplating the internal and geognostic
+constitution of the globe, the red or the blue clay, the yellow gravel,
+the trappe, the limestone, the granite, or the slate, to satisfy
+themselves what this poor planet is made of,&mdash;let them come and ransack<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+Le Morvan. Let them bring their hammers and chisels, their compasses and
+barometers, and above all, their passport,&mdash;precious document! an
+hundredfold more useful in France, in these liberty days, than a pair of
+shoes or a shirt,&mdash;let them come, and I promise them endless
+discoveries, a rich and ample harvest.</p>
+
+<p>In the meadow lands, when, for the purpose of sinking wells, the soil is
+penetrated to an immense depth, the workmen often come to thick strata
+of schist, in which they find imbedded trunks and roots of trees, and
+stalks of plants and ferns, which now grow in tropical climates only.</p>
+
+<p>In the highest and steepest parts of the mountain chain may be found
+marine petrifactions of every variety&mdash;the sea-hedgehog, the oyster, the
+mussel, and the star-fish; and in the beds of trachytic rock, deposited
+in such order that one might fancy they had been placed there by a
+careful and tasty housewife, are layers of the most curious shells,
+univalve, bivalve, sublivalve and multivalve, madrepors, and shapeless
+remnants of creatures now no longer known, and petrified fish.</p>
+
+<p>Some few years ago, an engineer, who was carrying a road through a rock
+in the mountain called the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> Val d'Arcy, found a salmon in the most
+perfect condition, even with head and tail, the unhappy wretch enclosed
+in the heart of a large stone. I should certainly have pronounced this
+fish to be a cod, had not science decided it was a salmon of a large
+species&mdash;<i>genus salmo</i>, sixty vertebr&aelig;. It is now to be seen in the
+Natural History department, section <i>Salmonid&aelig;</i>, of the Museum in the
+Jardin des Plantes, at Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Poor old salmon! said I, and I took off my hat when I had the honour of
+being presented to him; Poor old salmon! what wouldst thou have said,
+some twelve or fifteen thousand years ago, when, free and glorious thou
+didst pierce the briny waves,&mdash;when, perhaps, thou wast gambolling
+amongst the pointed summits of the Alps, plunging in ecstacy into the
+emerald depths of oceans now vanished,&mdash;what wouldst thou have said,
+could the thought have crossed thy brain, that one day thou shouldst be
+<i>here</i>? Under a glass! ticketted, numbered, pasted to the wall! forming
+an item in a collection of things fabulous, and exhibiting thy venerable
+form, thine antediluvian physiognomy, to thousands of <i>badauds</i>, who
+either pass thee without a glance, or examine thee with unfeeling
+curiosity, bestowing not a thought upon thy great age or thy cruel fate,
+or with a whit more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> respect for thee and thine awful history, than a
+cockney would show to a whitebait caught but yesterday in the Thames,
+and served up to him as a fraction of his fishy feast at Blackwall.</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan, abounding in forests, was a district most congenial to the
+gloomy spirit of the religion of the ancient Druids; and therefore, in
+the earliest days of the history of France, they consecrated its groves
+of splendid oaks to the performance of their terrible rites. Remains of
+many of their massive monuments still exist, in the fields, in the deep
+valleys, and on the tops of the hills. Antique and mysterious all of
+them&mdash;three-pointed stones, three-cornered stones, and massive groups of
+stones in mystic circle ranged, round which, the peasant will tell you
+with bated breath, <i>les Gaurics</i>&mdash;the spirits of the giants&mdash;come to
+weep and bewail on the first night of each new moon. During the last
+century, a peasant, who was at work in a deep ditch in a beautiful field
+of this district, came, in the course of his excavations, upon a stone
+which indicated, that he was not far from one of those monuments with
+which he was so familiar; and, upon further investigation, it proved to
+be the black granite tomb of the famous Chindonax, the high-priest of
+the Druids. It contained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> many relics&mdash;the sickle and the collar of
+gold, the holy bracelets, the metal girdle, the sacrificial axe, the
+knife of brass; and, in the midst, was a glass urn, containing a pinch
+or two of grey powder&mdash;human dust! proud dust&mdash;sad and last remnant of
+the Druid Chindonax.</p>
+
+<p>Tumuli were, a century ago, very numerous in the uncultivated and desert
+tract of Les Bruy&egrave;res; but these little artificial hillocks are
+disappearing very fast, for the peasants throw them down when they wish
+to clear and level the ground. These tumuli always contain collars in
+baked clay, arrow-heads, battle-axes of stone, pieces of crystal, and
+other articles of a similar description.</p>
+
+<p>Even Julius C&aelig;sar, the cruel conqueror of Gaul, the pitiless victor of
+Vercingetorix&mdash;C&aelig;sar, who cut off the hands of the Gauls as the only
+means of preventing them from fighting&mdash;C&aelig;sar admired Le Morvan. He
+loved that savage country, he delighted in it; in the deep gorges of its
+mountains he pursued the large wolves and the wild boar, and in it he
+established the custom of relays of dogs the whole length of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>In this our day, on the summit of a mountain near the one on which is
+built the town of Chinon, may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> be seen the thick strong walls of ancient
+Roman buildings&mdash;buildings that have been fortified, bristling with
+palisades, and surrounded by moats&mdash;where C&aelig;sar had his principal
+kennel, his hunting-box; in short, the spot which, in the third book of
+his 'Commentaries,' he calls <i>Castrum Caninum</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the darkest and most sombre part of this forest, the lovers of
+antiquity will arrest their steps, delighted, at the very curious
+village of Carr&eacute;-les-Tombes, so called from the immense number of tombs
+formerly found in its environs. So very numerous were they, that in 1615
+the Count de Chatelux, seigneur of the parish, had some of them sawn up
+to build and pave the present church and tower of the steeple, and also
+to roof the choir. They were seven or eight feet in length, and hollowed
+out like troughs. Tradition says they were all found empty, with the
+exception of five; in these reposed tall skeletons, blanched by time,
+each having a helmet on his head, and a Roman sword by his side. The
+stones of three only of these five tombs bore any inscription, name,
+mark, or sign. On one was a double cross, very coarsely engraved; on the
+second, a very large escutcheon, which the antiquaries, in spite of
+their magnifying glasses, their science, and their patience, could never
+decipher; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> on the other, the most curious of the three, a Latin
+inscription, in a legible, but very ancient character.</p>
+
+<p>Having one day had the simplicity to translate this inscription to a
+young and beautiful Andalusian widow, smart was the rap of the fan that
+I had for my pains. I had parried her curiosity as long as I could, for
+her dark and dangerous eyes and clear olive complexion, which betrayed
+every pulse of her southern blood, combined to put me on my guard.
+Reader, will you wonder?&mdash;here is the inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Qui D&aelig;mone pejus? Mulier rixosa: fug ..." </p></div>
+
+<p>"But what does it mean?" said my curious brunette.</p>
+
+<p>"Se&ntilde;ora, that you are lovely."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuff, sir! not at all;" and she tossed her graceful head pettishly; "I
+really wish you to translate it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;here, then: '<i>Qui D&aelig;mone pejus</i>'&mdash;dark women; '<i>mulier
+rixosa</i>'&mdash;are the loveliest."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no! I say; I am sure that is not it. Say it, word for word, or I
+shall be angry&mdash;I vow I shall."</p>
+
+<p>"Word for word!" What was I to do?</p>
+
+<p>"Word for word," reiterated Dona Inez.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, Se&ntilde;ora, I don't know ... you would not forgive me."</p>
+
+<p>"It is, then, something dreadful?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p><p>"No, not exactly dreadful, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Dios! Dios! worlds of patience!" and she stamped her tiny foot; "will
+you go on? You kill me with vexation. Translate it, I say, word for
+word." And here the Dona, with discreet carelessness opening her fan,
+prepared to blush.</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>Qui D&aelig;mone pejus</i>'&mdash;who is there worse than the devil? Hum!"&mdash;now for
+the pinch, thought I.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on! go on!&mdash;the next words."</p>
+
+<p>"'<i>Mulier rixosa</i>'&mdash;is&mdash;a&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, go on, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;a quarrelsome woman!"</p>
+
+<p>Like lightning the fan closed, fell upon the unlucky index of my left
+hand, which was thoughtlessly reposing upon the arm of the <i>causeuse</i>,
+and nearly knocked off the first joint, by way of reward for my
+reluctant compliance with her feminine wishes.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Se&ntilde;ora," I said, after I had recovered my breath, "but you
+are very unjust. I had nothing to do with writing this ungallant phrase;
+it was a brutal Roman, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"You are making game of me,&mdash;I know you are."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed; you insisted upon my translating it word for word, and I
+have done your bidding."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the man was a wretch who wrote them."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p><p>"I think so too, Se&ntilde;ora."</p>
+
+<p>"A brute&mdash;an animal!"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Se&ntilde;ora."</p>
+
+<p>"A fool&mdash;an old horror!"</p>
+
+<p>"Most probably."</p>
+
+<p>"An ignorant slanderer!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! surely."</p>
+
+<p>"A monster!"</p>
+
+<p>"I wager anything you like of it." But it was of no use; unconditional
+assent failed to pacify her. So she went on for hours; and it cost me
+untold pains to earn the brunette's permission to offer her an ice, or
+to win one single smile.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Le Morvan during the Middle Ages&mdash;Legendary horrors&mdash;Forest of La
+Goulotte&mdash;La Croix Chavannes&mdash;La Croix Mordienne&mdash;H&ocirc;tel de
+Chanty&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau de Lomervo&mdash;A French Bluebeard&mdash;Citadel of Lingou. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">But</span> I must return from my Andalusian belle to the rugged Le Morvan,&mdash;a
+patriotic, but, in spite of the broken finger, by no means so
+captivating a subject.</p>
+
+<p>In feudal times&mdash;indeed, even so late as the last century&mdash;the district
+was a perfect nest of cut-throats, where no one could venture in safety
+for any honest purpose; without roads, and without police; full of dark
+caverns and half-demolished castles, affording all kinds of facilities
+for retreat and concealment; and thus it became the favourite rendezvous
+of the worst and most ferocious characters of those lawless times. It is
+widely different now. The hunter or the traveller&mdash;a woman or a
+child&mdash;may ramble through the length and breadth of its forests, equally
+in vain hoping for the excitement or fearing the danger of any
+adventure, beyond the common one of seeing a wolf or wild boar threading
+his way amongst the trees&mdash;a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> matter of no consequence at all. If,
+however, you love to collect wild and mournful tales&mdash;tales, even, of
+horror, with which to rivet the attention of the family group over the
+fire in the winter evenings,&mdash;stop at every ruined wall over which the
+lizard is harmlessly creeping; stop at every massive tower in which the
+owl is screeching&mdash;at every large isolated stone under which the serpent
+is hissing; linger along each tortuous path, and your peasant guide will
+tell you a tradition for each&mdash;for all.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, for instance: you are perhaps a few paces in front of him, in the
+forest of La Goulotte; and as the mid-day sun glances through the boughs
+above you, you see its rays rest upon a cross at a little distance; it
+was, you think, placed there for the rude worshippers of the province,
+and you contemplate it with complacent reverence, till Pierre comes up
+with you. "'Tis La Croix Chavannes, Monsieur, <i>la croix sinistre</i>. See!
+in the narrow pass between the two mountains, its black and moss-covered
+arms extended; at the end of each is a large knob, resembling a
+threatening hand." You walk on, and find the cross riddled with ball,
+chipped and notched, and carved with odd names. By the time you have
+reached it, Pierre has told you it was set on the spot where, many a
+long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> year ago, the Marquis de Chavannes was found, deluged in blood and
+quite dead; he had been pierced through the heart by a treacherous
+rival, who had joined his hunting party, and who basely took advantage
+of a moment when, in ardent pursuit of the grisly boar, De Chavannes was
+utterly unsuspicious of his evil intentions.</p>
+
+<p>A little further on is another cross, at the entrance of a deep, dark
+gorge: What does that cross mean? "That one is called La Croix
+Mordienne, Monsieur; at its foot our forefathers knelt to recommend
+their souls to God, before they ventured their lives in the dangers of
+Les Grand Ravins, where too many had been greeted by the bullet or the
+dagger." The granite steps of this cross&mdash;this cross which was erected
+for worship&mdash;are worn deep by the knees of suppliants for protection
+against the cruelty of their fellow-men; and it is even a more
+melancholy monument of the ferocity of those times, than the one which
+records the assassination of the unsuspecting Marquis de Chavannes.</p>
+
+<p>Pursue your way, and, crossing a wild and marshy heath, you notice a
+lonely house surrounded by thorny broom, the aspect of which is
+forbidding, though it is gaily painted. Surely, you think, it can only
+be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> the gloomy tales with which my guide has beguiled this morning's
+walk, that make one suspect there is a history connected with that
+house; and you ask him its name. "That is Chanty, Monsieur; that was
+once an inn. The landlord was a frightful character, even for his own
+times. When the doomed traveller halted at his door to seek shelter from
+the storm, or to refresh himself and steed the better to encounter the
+scorching heat, the villain drugged his wine, and, at nightfall,
+following him into the forest, despatched and robbed his then helpless
+victim. Or perhaps he would detain him with stirring tales of forest
+life, till he found himself too late prudently to go further that night;
+and, on his guard against every person but the right, ordering a bed of
+his treacherous host, would fall into that slumber from which the
+miscreant took safe means to prevent his ever awaking. When, after many
+years of impunity in the commission of these fearful crimes, the
+officers of justice were at last set upon him, and his house was
+searched, in the cellar were found fifteen headless skeletons!"</p>
+
+<p>Such a mass of silent, awful testimony perhaps never was produced to
+substantiate the allegation of similar villany against any man; and
+atrocities like these, of the early and middle ages, have given their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+character to the legends of Le Morvan, which, still carefully related
+from one generation to another, are so impressed on the minds of the
+people, that the honest peasant of the present day would rather make a
+circuit of a dozen or twenty miles, than pass in the deepening twilight
+near the scenes to which they relate. Not all the gold of Peru&mdash;no, nor
+even of California&mdash;would tempt <i>Les Pastoures</i> to graze their flocks or
+herds near the scene of these horrid events, or pass them when the stars
+are spangling the dark arch of heaven.</p>
+
+<p>Here also may be seen the solid walls, the array of towers, the high
+belfry, the iron gates, and the ponderous drawbridges of the Ch&acirc;teau de
+Lomervo; and many are the dependent buildings, courts, and gardens,
+surrounded by the thick copse wood that covers its domain, which extends
+over three neighbouring hills. Under the principal fa&ccedil;ade is a large
+lake, whose blue waves bathe the walls; an immense mirror, ever
+reflecting the numberless turrets, and the grotesque birds and beasts
+which decorate the extremity of every waterspout; wherein, too, the
+tranquil marble giants, who support the broad balcony on their heads,
+seem to contemplate and admire their own imperturbable
+countenances&mdash;countenances that betrayed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> no shade of feeling at all
+that must have passed before their eyes. The gathering of armed knights
+for war or revelry; the rejoicings for the birth of an heir, or the
+lamentations for the death of the stern gray-headed lord; the bridal of
+one lovely daughter of the house of Lomervo, or the solitary departure
+of the mail-clad lover of another for the Crusades. But, it is said,
+they saw much more than all this: according to popular rumour, these
+calm deep waters are the cold and mute depositories of frightfully
+tragic secrets. One bright spring morning in the very olden time, says
+the tradition, a Lord of this domain left his castle. It was when the
+sweet violet first cast its odours on the breeze, when the bright and
+abundant bloom of the lilac and laburnum gracefully decorated the
+gardens, and the country was reclad in all the charming freshness of the
+season. After a short absence, he returned, accompanied by a lovely
+bride;&mdash;but ere long she died. He went again, returning with another,
+and was again received by his vassals with acclamations of joy; but
+gloomy suspicions at last arose, for in this way, in succeeding years,
+were brought to the Castle eleven young and beautiful damsels. One by
+one, they all disappeared. What became of them? No one knew, or, if they
+did, dared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> to tell. When, however, the long-dreaded lord was dead, some
+old women declared, that as he became tired of each wife, he stabbed her
+at midnight in one of his dungeons, took a sack from a heap which he
+kept in the corner, and, sewing her up with his own hands, carried her
+noiselessly to the water-gate, and laid her in the bottom of his boat.
+Silently and rapidly he rowed to the centre of the lake, and coolly
+dropped in his hapless victim amongst the sheltering reeds.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Monsieur," the village gossips will still tell you, as they make
+the sign of the cross, and tremble till you see their very stuff gowns
+shake again; "'tis all true, Monsieur; twenty times have we seen them in
+the moonlight&mdash;twenty times have we seen the poor souls, in their long
+white robes, with their pale faces, and the spot of blood on the left
+side, wandering over the lake." Poor Bluebeard, for whom in childhood we
+used to feel such awe, was a fool to this baron bold.</p>
+
+<p>There, a little in front of you, is the fortified village of Chamou,
+which in former years defended the eastern opening of Les Grand Ravins;
+also Lingou, an old citadel, three stories high, whose walls, now
+cracked and ivy bound, guarded them on the south. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> piece of feudal
+architecture, full of trap-doors and dungeons, subterranean passages,
+and secret stairs, is another of the places dreaded and abhorred by the
+peasantry of Le Morvan; for near the walls, they say, at certain
+periods, sounds can be distinctly heard under ground, funeral chaunts,
+and the tolling of bells; and if you have the daring to apply your ear
+to the sod, you will be able to distinguish sighs and sobs, and the dull
+rattle of the earth thrown upon the victim's coffin.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Castle of Bazoche&mdash;Mar&eacute;chal de Vauban&mdash;Relics of the old
+Marshal&mdash;Memorials of Philipsburg&mdash;H&ocirc;tel de Bazarne&mdash;Madame de
+Pompadour's ma&icirc;tre d'h&ocirc;tel&mdash;Proof of the <i>cur&eacute;s'</i> grief&mdash;Farm of
+St. Hibaut&mdash;Youthful recollections&mdash;Monsieur de Cheribalde&mdash;Navarre
+the Four-Pounder&mdash;His culverin. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Each</span> of the Radcliffian horrors narrated in the last chapter, though
+vastly marvellous, most probably originated in some dreadful deed of
+blood, on which the vulgar and superstitious admiration of excitement of
+those days delighted to enlarge. We shall now turn to the castle of
+Bazoche, where, in former days, dukes, counts and barons assembled every
+September with their hunting-train, to enjoy the pleasures of <i>la grande
+chasse</i> and all its attendant revelry. The ch&acirc;teau in later years
+belonged to the renowned engineer, Sebastian-le-Pr&ecirc;tre, Mar&eacute;chal de
+Vauban, who was a native of Le Morvan, and born in 1633 in the village
+of St. Leger de Foucheret. The humble roof under which this celebrated
+man first saw the light is now inhabited by a <i>sabot</i>-maker.</p>
+
+<p>Brought up, like Henry IV., amongst the peasants<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> of his native
+province, like him he loved the remembrance of all connected with it and
+them; and when he died in Paris (1707), he desired that he might be
+buried at his beloved Ch&acirc;teau de Bazoche, where he had so often,
+sauntering under the noble <i>platanes</i>, sought and found relaxation from
+the turmoil and fatigue of a soldier's life, and forgotten the
+jealousies and injustice of the court. In the southern part of the
+building is the gallant old veteran's sleeping apartment&mdash;there still
+stands his bed: and his armour, with several swords and other articles
+which belonged to him, are still preserved. On the rampart, now probably
+silent for ever, are four pieces of cannon of large calibre, which
+thundered at the siege of Philipsburg, and were subsequently presented
+to the Marshal by Monseigneur, the brother of Louis XIV.</p>
+
+<p>Great were the works accomplished by the genius and perseverance of this
+famous general&mdash;famous, not only in his own profession, but as one of
+the honest characters of an age when honesty was rare indeed. He
+improved and perfected the defences of three hundred towns, and entirely
+constructed the fortifications of thirty-three others; was present at
+one hundred and forty battles, and conducted fifty-three sieges. The
+body of this eminent man was,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> in literal compliance with his orders,
+interred in a black marble tomb, under the damp flagstones of the castle
+chapel; but his heart, in melancholy violation of the spirit which
+dictated them, is enclosed in a monument, surmounted by his bust, in the
+church of the H&ocirc;tel des Invalides. Opposite to it is the tomb of
+Turenne, and under the same roof at last repose the mortal remains of
+Napoleon. Could their spirits perambulate this church at the hour when
+the dead only are said to be awake, and we could muster the courage to
+listen to their whispered communings, what should we hear? How severely
+would this tremendous triumvirate judge some of the so-called great men
+of our own time!</p>
+
+<p>But there are more modern edifices in Le Morvan, with far more agreeable
+episodes attached to them: take, for example, the H&ocirc;tel de Bazarne, a
+celebrated hostel, built among the green lanes on the borders of a wood
+of acacias&mdash;a beautiful flowery wood, which, when the merry month of May
+has heralded the perfumed pleasures of spring, dispenses them on every
+breeze over the adjacent country.</p>
+
+<p>Bazarne, in its healthy situation and splendid environs, boasts the best
+of cookery. The last owner of Bazarne was&mdash;Reader, the utmost exercise
+of your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> lively imagination will never supply you with the right
+name&mdash;was an <i>ancien ma&icirc;tre d'h&ocirc;tel</i> of Madame la Marquise de
+Pompadour&mdash;Madame de Pompadour's steward! What could he have to do in
+the wilds of Le Morvan? Grand Jean was a curious little man, lively and
+brisk as a bird or a squirrel, powdered, curled, and smelling of rose
+and benjamin as if he were still at Versailles or Choisi. Grand Jean
+decorated the back of his head with a little pigtail, which much
+resembled a head of asparagus, and was always jumping and frisking from
+one shoulder to the other. His snuff-box was of rare enamel, his ruffles
+of point-lace, and his artistic performances in the culinary art were
+all carried on in vessels of solid silver. He was, from the point of his
+toe to the tips of his hair, the aristocrat of the saucepan and the
+stove.</p>
+
+<p>Grand Jean acquired, in our provincial district, a reputation perfectly
+monumental for the richness of his venison pasties, the refined flavour,
+the smoothness and the exquisite finish of his <i>omelettes aux truffes</i>
+and <i>au sang de chevreuil</i>. All the world of Le Morvan used to visit
+him. And the good <i>cur&eacute;s</i>? The good <i>cur&eacute;s</i>?&mdash;ah! they all went to visit
+him by caravans, as the faithful wend their way across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> the deserts to
+Mecca to pray at the tomb of the Prophet. And, when he died, they
+mourned indeed; the worthy divines, incredible as it may be, drank water
+for three days, in proof of the sincerity of their woe. Who would have
+doubted it?</p>
+
+<p>To the north of Bazarne, and on the road to the best district for sport,
+is seen at the foot of the gray mountains peeping cheerily, and like a
+white flower amidst the sombre foliage of the chestnut-trees, St.
+Hibaut, an immense farm, situated in an isolated spot, and built of the
+lava from an extinct volcano. Saint Hibaut, ah! the moment the pen
+traces that dear name my aching heart beats and throbs within my
+breast&mdash;before my eyes pass to and fro the memories of a vanished
+world&mdash;I seem to feel the fresh and odorous breezes from thy flowers,
+thy mossy banks and scented shrubs, and hear thy murmuring rills and the
+dash of thy wild torrents. St. Hibaut! lovely spot where flew so swiftly
+and so sweetly the brightest and gayest hours of my early years&mdash;St.
+Hibaut, the memory of thee burns within my heart: but those within thy
+walls, do they still think of me?</p>
+
+<p>Alas! in this world of tears and deception, of moral tortures and often
+of physical suffering&mdash;what is there more delightful, more consolatory
+than to sip, nay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> plunge the lips, and drink, yes, drink deep from that
+fresh and blessed spring, the memory of by-gone days. How great the
+burden of the man who has been the sport of fortune, whose life has been
+one continued sorrow, who, never satisfied with the present moment, is
+always hoping for better and happier days, and always regretting those
+which have been and are now no more. O! Reader&mdash;if many griefs have been
+your portion, if it has been your sad fate to tread with naked feet the
+thorny paths of life, if the foul passions of envy, rage, and hatred
+have found a place in your heart, close your eyes, forget your
+miseries&mdash;open, open for a moment that golden casket called the memory,
+in which are preserved, embalmed and imperishable, all those happy
+incidents which were the delight of your youth. Yes! open wide that
+casket, ponder well, and with renewed fondness o'er these treasures of
+the mind, and believe me after such holy reflections you will feel
+yourself more able to meet the contumely of the world, and find yourself
+a happier and a better man.</p>
+
+<p>Saint Hibaut, situated in a wild country, surrounded by lonely heaths
+and deep ravines, and water-courses whose sides are covered by almost
+impenetrable thickets, was at the time I speak of, that is to say, when
+I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> eighteen years of age, the property of Monsieur de Cheribalde,
+the most intrepid, determined and ardent sportsman, who ever winded a
+horn, wore a huntsman's knife, or whistled a dog.</p>
+
+<p>Distant very nearly twenty miles from any human habitation, it was at
+times, the favourite rendezvous, the head-quarters of a great number of
+chevreuil, boar and other denizens of the forest. In winter, when the
+snow covered the earth for several weeks, the famished and furious
+wolves assembled in the neighbourhood in packs, carrying off in the
+broad daylight everything they could lay their teeth on; sheep and
+shepherd, dogs and huntsman, horse and horseman, bones, hair, and skins
+half-tanned, old hats and shoes&mdash;even the corrupt bodies of the dead
+were torn from their resting-places, and eaten by these horrid animals.</p>
+
+<p>On moonlight nights, these brutes would come fearlessly up to the very
+walls of the farm, dancing their sarabandes in the snow, howling like so
+many devils, shrieking and showing their long white teeth, and demanding
+in unmistakable terms something or somebody to devour; their yells,
+their cries of rage, of victory, and of love, intermingled with the
+funereal song of the screech-owl, and the lugubrious melodies which the
+current from the blast without caused in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the large open chimneys,&mdash;was
+the concert, which from December to April lulled the inmates of St.
+Hibaut to sleep; music that would I doubt not have reduced even the
+formidable proportions of the inimitable Lablache, and made Mario sing
+out of tune.</p>
+
+<p>But these were the good old times, the good old times! Well do I
+remember, when the shadows of those winter evenings lengthened, when
+nightfall came, and when at last the moon arose, bringing out in light
+and shade every object within the court-yard, and at some distance from
+the house, then it was that Monsieur de Cheribalde went his rounds. I
+see him in my mind's eye now, with his gun on his shoulder, followed by
+his five enormous bloodhounds strong and fierce as lions, and Navarre,
+surnamed the Four-Pounder, who walked a few paces to the right and left,
+opening his large saucer eyes, poking and squinting into every bush and
+corner.</p>
+
+<p>Navarre, for forty years the head gamekeeper of the domain, was his
+master's right hand, his <i>alter ego</i>. He had never in his whole life
+been beyond his woods,&mdash;had never seen the church-steeple of a great
+town. To him, the dark belt of firs that skirted the horizon, was the
+limit of the world; and when told that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> the sun never set, and that when
+it sank behind the mountains, it was only continuing its course, to beam
+bright in other skies and on other lands, and to ripen other
+harvests,&mdash;Navarre smiled, and did not believe a word. Happy Navarre!
+what did it signify to him what was done, or what happened behind those
+hills? He was thin and dry as a match, and tall as a Norwegian spruce,
+with a face covered with hair; he smoked, and tossed off glass after
+glass of brandy, like a Dutchman. In addition to these peculiarities,
+Navarre was lame of the right leg, a boar having one day kindly applied
+his tusky lancet to his thigh, and gored him seriously, before, hand to
+hand, he managed to finish him with his hunting-knife.</p>
+
+<p>At the first glance, Navarre's aspect appeared strange and forbidding,
+and savage as the locality in which he lived. The fact was, that, like
+Robinson Crusoe, he was frequently arrayed in a suit of skins of which
+he had been the architect, on a fantastic pattern, that his own queer
+imagination had created.</p>
+
+<p>On great occasions the veteran keeper donned a helmet, or a gray
+three-cornered hat, of so ridiculous a shape&mdash;so royally absurd&mdash;that
+for my life, when he was thus attired, I could not, even in the presence
+of his master, refrain from laughter; then he would tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> you, with a
+gravity it was impossible to disturb, that it had taken him fifteen
+days, eight skins of wild cats, and twelve squirrel's tails, to achieve
+this happy <i>chef-d'&#339;uvre</i> of the tailoring art. But I once said to
+him, "My good Navarre, in the name of heaven tell me, from what Japanese
+manuscript did you fish out that odious hat? Why, with such a shed, you
+might very well be mistaken for Chin-ko-fi-ku-o, high-priest of the
+temple of Twi. Do give me the address of your hatter, my dear friend."
+Navarre, furious, gave no reply.</p>
+
+<p>But the time really to admire him&mdash;to see the head gamekeeper in all his
+splendour&mdash;was in winter, in a hard frost, when, covered with skins and
+motionless, he lay in ambush in a black ravine, waiting for a boar. Oh!
+then, for certain, the sight of him was anything but encouraging; for he
+looked like some unknown animal, some variety of the species <i>Bonassus</i>,
+a crocodile on end, a crumpled-up elephant, or a great bear on the
+watch. And when he loaded his rifle&mdash;a sort of culverin or wall-piece,
+which no one but himself knew how to manage&mdash;gracious powers! he was
+something to see. His first movement was to seize the gigantic weapon in
+the middle, as a policeman would fasten upon a favourite thief; and then
+he set himself to blow into the barrel with such fury, that had there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+been an ounce of wadding left, the blast would have blown it all through
+the enormous touch-hole. Being well assured after this that neither an
+adder nor a slow-worm had taken up his domicile within the barrel, he
+began to load. One charge&mdash;two charges&mdash;then a third, "as a compliment,"
+and after this, a fourth, "for good luck." On this infernal
+charge&mdash;imperial, as he called it&mdash;this Vesuvius, this volcano of
+saltpetre, he threw half-a-dozen balls, or, if he was out of them, a
+handful of nails; and then he rammed&mdash;rammed&mdash;rammed away, like a
+pavior.</p>
+
+<p>My hair stood on end, and every limb trembled when he fired it off&mdash;holy
+St. Francis!&mdash;the very forest bent, and coughed, and sighed; and it made
+as much flame, smoke, noise, and carnage, as a battery of horse
+artillery. One might have heard it all over Burgundy, or Provence for
+what I know; and hence, no doubt, his <i>sobriquet</i> of "the Four-Pounder."
+I always thought his shoulder must be made of heart of oak. On one
+occasion he did me the incomparable favour of loading my gun in this
+fashion, but luckily for me, informed me of this piece of civility
+before we started; and greatly was he chagrined when I declined to fire
+it. In the common occurrences of life, Navarre was a right good fellow;
+he had great good sense,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> could take a joke, was simple and modest in
+his manners, and very kind-hearted and retiring. But once in the forest,
+the dogs uncoupled, and the business of the chase commenced, he bounded
+to the front; his eyes flashed, his nostrils dilated, he took a deep
+breath, listened, and snuffed the air; he limped no longer; and as his
+courage was unequalled, and his knowledge of wood-craft profound, the
+proudest of every rank were content to follow where he led.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Bird's-eye view of the forests&mdash;The student's visit to his uncle in
+the country&mdash;Sallies forth in the early morning&mdash;Meets a
+cuckoo&mdash;Follows him&mdash;The cuckoo too much for him&mdash;Gives up the
+pursuit&mdash;Finds he has lost his way&mdash;Agreeable vespers&mdash;Night in the
+forest&mdash;Wolves&mdash;Up a beech tree&mdash;A friend in need&mdash;The student bids
+adieu to Le Morvan. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">We</span> have alluded in the opening chapters to the inexhaustible wealth
+drawn by the inhabitants from the woods of Le Morvan, though we have as
+yet touched but slightly on their beauties. To see them at one <i>coup
+d'&#339;il</i>, in all the splendour of their extent, one ought to call for
+the veteran, Mr. Green, and, safely (?) lodged in his car, with plenty
+of sandwiches and champagne, fly and soar above these forests of La
+Belle France. By St. Hubert, gentle reader, your eyes would be feasted
+with a glorious sight. Beneath your feet you would, in autumn, behold a
+verdant expanse in every variety of light and shade&mdash;a sea of leaves,
+which, though sometimes in repose, more often moan and murmur, while the
+giant arms they clothe rock to and fro in the gale, like the restless
+waves of the troubled deep.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>Here Nature displays all her sylvan grandeur; here she has scattered,
+with a liberal hand, every charm that foliage can give to earth, and
+many a lovely flower to scent the evening breeze. Descend, and in this
+immense labyrinth you will find a tangled skein of forest paths, in
+which it is never prudent to ramble alone; as will be seen by the
+following adventure, which befell a young student who once went to Le
+Morvan, anticipating infinite pleasure in spending a few weeks at the
+house of an old uncle, a rich proprietor and owner of a large farm in
+the forest of Erveau.</p>
+
+<p>Residing from his infancy in the department of the Seine, he was quite
+ignorant of a forest life; and the morning was yet early when he arose
+from his bed and sallied forth to enjoy the fresh and fragrant air, of
+which he had a foretaste at his open window, and take a ramble till the
+hour of breakfast summoned him to his uncle's hospitable fare. All
+without was life and sweetness; every bush had its little chorister; the
+sun brilliant, but not as yet high in the heavens, threw his bright rays
+in chequered light and shade between the trees, and made the pearly
+tears of night, which hung quivering on each bending blade of grass,
+sparkle like diamonds of the purest water. The student was in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> raptures,
+and after a brief survey of the garden, he cast a longing eye upon the
+woods which he so much wished to penetrate. On he walked, stopping
+occasionally to muse on the enchanting scene around him, when all at
+once he espied, on the lofty branches of an ash, a cuckoo! At the sight
+of this splendid bird, our Parisian sportsman felt his heart pit-a-pat
+and jump like a girl's in love; and without stopping any longer to
+admire the marvels of Nature, he turned hastily back to his uncle's
+abode, in search of a gun, with which to annihilate the luckless
+harbinger of spring. He soon found one, ready loaded, in the hall; and,
+with his heart full of hope and his legs full of precaution, he glided
+mysteriously from one tree to another, endeavouring, by all possible
+means, to conceal his approach from the wily cuckoo, which, perched on
+high, was throwing into space his two dull notes, regular and monotonous
+as the tick-tick of an old-fashioned clock.</p>
+
+<p>Warily and stealthily did the student approach; bent nearly double, he
+scarcely drew his breath, as his distance from the tree grew less; but,
+says the song of the poacher,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"If women smell tricks, cuckoos smell powder."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noin">And again,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+<p class="poem">
+"'Tis a difficult thing to catch woman at fault,<br />
+More difficult still, an old cuckoo with salt."<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Without appearing to do so, from the height of his leafy turret, the
+prudent cuckoo kept a wary eye upon the tortuous movements of his enemy;
+but as he saw at a glance what sort of a customer he had to deal with,
+he evidently did not feel any particular hurry to shift his quarters:
+only every time he saw the double barrel moving up to the Parisian's
+shoulder, and that hostilities on his part were about to be opened, he,
+as if just for fun, dropped his own dear brown self on the branch below
+him, flapped his wings, and soon perching himself on a tree a little
+further off, gravely re-opened his beak and resumed his monotonous
+chant.</p>
+
+<p>The young student, piqued and mortified at this discreet behaviour of
+the cuckoo, which, like happiness, was always on the wing, perseveringly
+followed the provoking bird&mdash;one walked, the other flew, the distance
+increased at every flight, and thus they got over a great deal of
+ground; the young man still believing his uncle's farm was close behind
+him&mdash;the cuckoo perfectly easy, knowing full well he could find his
+leafy home whenever he might please to return to it. So, for the
+fiftieth time, perhaps, the cuckoo was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> vanishing in the foliage, when a
+sudden thought cramped the legs and cut short the obstinate pursuit of
+the young lawyer; he then, for the first time, remembered the wholesome
+advice his uncle had given him on his arrival.&mdash;"Beware, my fine fellow,
+beware of going alone in the forest, for to those who know not how to
+read their way, that is, on the bark of the trees, the mossy stones, and
+dry or broken twigs, the forest is full of snares and danger, of
+deceitful echos and strange noises that attract and mislead the
+inexperienced sportsman."</p>
+
+<p>"By Juno," thought our hero, "as it is most certain that in Paris they
+are not yet clever enough to teach us geography on the bark of trees, I
+am an uncommonly lucky fellow to have just remembered the dear old
+gentleman's warning. Hang the infernal cuckoo! Go to the devil, you
+hideous cuckoo! Good morning, sir, my compliments at home." And then,
+with his terrible carbine under his arm, he retraced his steps,
+expecting every moment to see peeping through the trees in front of him,
+his uncle's large white house and lofty dove-cote.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas! no such thing met his hungry eyes; still on he walked, trees
+after trees were passed, glade after glade, and many a long avenue, but
+neither white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> farm-house nor gay green shutters greeted his anxious
+sight. "How odd," thought he, "how very odd; this, I feel confident, is
+the identical spot near which I first noticed that odious cuckoo; here
+is the self-same little regiment of white daisies that my feet pressed
+not half an hour ago; see now, this chestnut, this immense chestnut,
+whose monstrous roots lie twisting about the ground like a black brood
+of ugly snakes&mdash;certainly this was the way I came, surely I saw these
+roots, and yet no house appears." And thus, from time to time, he
+reasoned with himself, looking on either side for some object that he
+could recognize with certainty; at last, grown thoroughly hungry and
+impatient, he hallooed and shouted, but no voice replied, not the
+slightest sound was floating in the air. It was then he felt he had lost
+his way,&mdash;that he was alone, yes, alone in the forest of Erveau, in a
+leafy wilderness stretching many miles.</p>
+
+<p>Many a vow he made and many a blackberry he picked as he walked hither
+and thither, in every direction. The day wore on, the sun had long
+passed the meridian, and with the coming evening rose a gentle breeze,
+which moaned in the dry ferns; and this and the rustling of the giant
+creepers that reached from tree to tree, and swung between the branches,
+fell mournfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> on the student's ear. A vague fear, a fatal
+presentiment of evil began to creep over him; again he shouted, the echo
+from a dark wild ravine alone replied; he fired his gun again and again,
+the echo alone answered his signal of distress, and nothing could he
+hear, except at intervals, far, far away in the green depths of the
+forest, the notes cuckoo&mdash;cuckoo.</p>
+
+<p>Faint and weary, from hunger and fatigue, the young man, no longer able
+to proceed, fell down at the foot of a spreading beech, and gave way to
+an agony of grief; drops of cold sweat stood upon his brow; the clammy
+feeling of fear took possession of his heart, and though, perhaps, he
+would have had no objection to try the fortune of the pistol or the
+sword, in any college broil or senseless riot of the populace, the
+circumstances under which he then stood were so new to him, that he was
+quite unmanned and incapable of further exertion.</p>
+
+<p>In blood-red streaks sank the setting sun, his large yellow orb glancing
+through the trees like the dimmed eye of some giant ogre; twilight came,
+and soon after every valley lay in shadow; the breeze, as if waking from
+its gentle slumbers, whistled in the highest branches, and, increasing
+in force, rocked the lower<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> limbs, which moaned mournfully as the night
+closed in.</p>
+
+<p>Hungry and alarmed, and now quite worn out with his lengthened walk, the
+young Parisian lay stretched on the moss, listening with painful anxiety
+to this melancholy conversation of the woods, when, suddenly, and as
+night fell, spreading over the earth her sable wings and shaking from
+the folds of her robe the luminous legions of stars, he heard a
+prolonged and sonorous howl in the distance&mdash;a strolling wolf&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"Cruel as Death! and hungry as the grave!<br />
+Burning for blood! bony and gaunt and grim,"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noin">had scented the Parisian and was inviting his good friends with the long
+teeth, to come and sup on the dainty morsel. Touched as if by a hot
+iron, up got the terrified youth, and striking his ten nails into the
+friendly tree near him like an Indian monkey, he was in an instant many
+feet above its base. Here, astride upon a branch, shivering and shaking,
+each hair on end, and murmuring many a Pater and Ave Maria, unsaid for
+years, he passed the most horrific night that any citizen of the
+department of the Seine had ever been known to spend in the middle of
+the forest of Erveau.</p>
+
+<p>The following morning, but not until the sun had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> already run nearly
+half his course, for he never dared to leave his timber observatory
+before, <i>le pauvre diable</i> dropped down from his perch like an
+acorn&mdash;and, marching off with weary steps, and scarcely a hope that ere
+another night fell he should gain the shelter of some cottage, he
+dragged himself along. On he rolled from side to side, torn with the
+thorns and bitten by the gnats that swarmed around him, sometimes
+calling upon his mother, sometimes upon the saints&mdash;when a wood-cutter
+happily met, and seeing his exhausted condition, threw the slim student
+over his shoulders like a bundle of straw, and carried him to a
+neighbouring village. There, he was put to bed and attended with every
+care, when he soon recovered&mdash;and received the charming intelligence
+that he was about forty miles from his uncle's house&mdash;that he had been
+wandering for that distance in the most beautiful part of the forest of
+Erveau, and that if by any chance he had deviated a little more to the
+right in his unpleasant steeple-chase across the woods, he would have
+gone, in a straight line, eighty-six miles without meeting house or
+cottage or human soul until he found himself at the gates of Dijon,
+chief town of the C&ocirc;te-d'Or, where he might and would, no doubt, have
+been able to refresh himself with a bottle of Beaune<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> and inspect the
+Gothic tombs of the great Dukes of Burgundy.</p>
+
+<p>Grateful was the unlucky lad to think that he had not taken this road,
+and truly glad was he when, under the woodcutter's care, he reached his
+uncle's white house. No sooner, however, was he fairly recovered from
+his misadventure, than he packed up his superb cambric shirts, his Lyons
+silk socks, patent leather boots, and white Jouvin gloves; squeezed the
+hand of his aunt, gave a doubtful shake to that of his uncle, and
+started in the <i>malle poste</i> for the capital. His father's brother and
+Le Morvan never saw him more.</p>
+
+<p>Such adventures, however, as these are rare, and you must have, indeed,
+a double dose of bad fortune to be lost in such a woful way, and spend,
+without meeting any mortal soul, thirty long hours in the woods: for
+though the tract of forest is very extensive, there are strewed, here
+and there, several merry villages, large farms, and hunting-boxes,
+snugly hidden, it is true, beneath the trees,&mdash;but which an experienced
+huntsman very soon discovers when he stands in need of assistance or a
+night's lodging.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Charms of a forest life to the sportsman&mdash;The Poachers&mdash;Le P&egrave;re
+S&eacute;guin&mdash;His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers&mdash;The first
+buck&mdash;A bad shot. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">However</span> dangerous the forests of Le Morvan may be, and certainly are, to
+the citizen of Paris, whose knowledge of wood-craft, whatever may have
+been his delightful visions of forest life, of fairy revels, and
+hair-breadth escapes, is about equal to his proficiency in navigation,
+they are no labyrinth to the true sportsman of this province; in his
+mind, they are mapped with an accuracy perfectly astonishing to the
+uninitiated in the countless indications of nature, of which the eye of
+man becomes so keenly observant when thrown constantly into her
+fascinating society. Let a man of a vigorous health, active frame, and
+contemplative mind once enter, even for a short time, upon the
+enjoyments of sporting, wild and varied as are those of Le Morvan, it
+would be difficult to withdraw him from its delights, and persuade him
+that it is in any way desirable to return to the crowded haunts of men,
+and condemn himself to resume the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> harassing struggle for wealth or a
+competence in his own legitimate sphere.</p>
+
+<p>No; there scarcely breathes the human being who could be so insensible
+to the charms of scenery like that of Le Morvan as to do so without a
+pang. 'Tis a chalice of gold, brimful of real pleasures for those who
+love the joys of the open air; 'tis alive with fish and game, and has
+its vineyards and its cornfields too.</p>
+
+<p>But we are thinking of the forests only, of the boar&mdash;that potentate of
+the solitudes&mdash;and the wild cat: of the ravines and caves, to which the
+hardy and venturous hunter, through bush, brake, or briar, over
+streamlet or torrent, will chace the ravenous wolf,&mdash;who, bearing the
+iron ball in his lacerated side, ever and anon gnaws the wound in his
+rage, and slinks on weeping tears of blood. The roebuck and the hare,
+the feathered and the finny tribe, are ever presenting an endless
+alternation of amusement more or less exciting; and the sportsman has
+but to settle with himself, when the rosy morn appears, whether he will
+bestride his gallant steed, or throw the rod or rifle over his
+shoulder,&mdash;his day's pleasure is safe.</p>
+
+<p>It matters not whether the falling leaf announces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> that the woods are
+clearing for him, the deep snow warns him to look to the protection of
+his flocks from the dangerous intrusion of the wolves, or the genial air
+and the brilliant flies tell him that the silvery tenants of the many
+streams and rivers that intersect the forest are ready to provide him
+sport.</p>
+
+<p>Arouse thee, sportsman! when the dark clouds of night fly before the
+rays of Ph&#339;bus as a troop of timid antelopes before the
+leopard,&mdash;when the lark abandons his mossy bed, and soaring sends forth
+his joyous carol,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"&mdash;&mdash;blythe to greet<br />
+The purpling East,"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noin">then, O sportsman, up, and to horse! Away! bending over the saddle-bow,
+follow the wild deer across the heath&mdash;inhale the perfume of the
+trampled thyme. Draw bridle for a moment, and pity the thousands of thy
+fellow-men to whom the pure air and light are denied, and let thy
+heartfelt thanksgivings for thy free and happy lot ascend to the azure
+battlements of heaven. Beneath your gaze lie valleys whence rise the
+morning mists as do the clouds from the richly-perfumed censer, and
+float over the bosom of the plain ere they wreathe the mountain side;
+all the bushes sing, every leaf is shining to welcome the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> glorious sun
+as he rises majestically over that high dark range, and the bright blue
+dome of day is revealed in all its purity.</p>
+
+<p>Plunge onward to the forest&mdash;you will perhaps fall in with one of the
+<i>braconniers</i>&mdash;must I call them poachers?&mdash;of which there are many; all
+alike, in one sense, yet each having the most whimsical characteristics.
+The reader knows my friend Navarre, but I must now introduce him to
+another of the cronies of my youth, the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, the thoughts of
+whom revive all the sweet recollections of my home when my family lived
+in the ancient and picturesque Vezelay.</p>
+
+<p>S&eacute;guin's "form and feature" are as well impressed upon my memory as
+those even of Navarre. Could any one forget him? I should think not; for
+he was so fantastic and mysterious, such a determined sportsman and
+eccentric desperado, that he was known to all Le Morvan.</p>
+
+<p>As well as I remember, he was about fifty-five years of age when I first
+knew him; from his earliest boyhood he had fancied and loved a
+forester's life, and for more than forty years had realized his dreams
+of its wild independence. The woods, the rocks, the streams had no
+secrets for him; he understood all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> their murmurs and their silence&mdash;he
+knew the habits of every bird and beast of these forests and the
+whereabouts of every large trout in his clear cold hole.</p>
+
+<p>But it is of no use to describe P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin; to know him you must hunt
+with him, and that pretty often, too&mdash;as I have done from my earliest
+youth. I am now with him, on one of those joyous mornings of my boyhood,
+and having threaded the woods for an hour, he has placed me in ambuscade
+at the corner of a copse. Here, after a short delay, he pulls out his
+watch, a time-piece weighing about two pounds, and after a mute
+consultation with the hands, says in a low decided tone:</p>
+
+<p>"Good! Three o'clock. Stop here, youngster, and in an hour I shall send
+you a buck."</p>
+
+<p>"A buck at four o'clock? How are you to tell that?" And I felt that I
+opened my eyes as an oyster does his bivalve domicile at high water. "A
+buck! you are joking."</p>
+
+<p>"I never joke," said the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin with a hoarse grunt, walking away,
+and his face did not belie his words.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, but how can you possibly&mdash;Stop, do, for one moment. Hear
+me! holla! P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin! I say, you old humbug.&mdash;By Socrates, he is off."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p><p>But P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin was already striding fast and far through the bending
+branches, wilfully, if not really out of hearing, and I had nothing to
+do but to watch for the promised game. I had no watch, and it seemed to
+me long after the appointed hour, when my reverie was disturbed by a low
+voice, from I knew not where,&mdash;from heaven, from earth, from a murmuring
+brook, from a tree,&mdash;which dropped these words in my ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence&mdash;four o'clock&mdash;the buck."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment I saw the ears of the roebuck, and soon after the animal
+itself, pausing for a moment in his leisurely course, just where he
+ought to be for a good shot. But amazement and trepidation seized me. I
+fired in a hurry, and the deer bounded off unscathed. "How clumsy," said
+I to the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, as he emerged from the thicket, "and how
+unfortunate, for I have some friends coming to dine with me this week."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, never mind," replied the poacher; "I will fill your larder
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are a good fellow, but remember I require also some fish&mdash;a
+fine dish of trout."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," growled the P&egrave;re, "you shall have one;" and without a word
+more the <i>braconnier</i> is off;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> and soon after I meet him with his rod, a
+young fir-tree, on his shoulder, a box of worms as large as snakes, and
+with the most entire confidence in his piscatory powers, proceeding on
+his way to the stream that will suit his purpose. In the evening he
+reappears, taking from the fresh grass in which he has carried them,
+three or four magnificent fish studded with drops of gold. White wine
+and choice aromatic herbs flavour them, and you rejoice in the pleasure
+and praises of your friends as they partake of the savoury meal.</p>
+
+<p>And now for a sketch, if possible, of this excellent purveyor. P&egrave;re
+S&eacute;guin was tall as an obelisk, strong as a Hercules, <i>vif</i> as gunpowder,
+thin and sinewy as any wolf in his beloved forests. His ear large, flat,
+and full of hair; his teeth long, white, regular, and sharp as those of
+his favourite and extraordinary dog; his eyes yellow, calm, and piercing
+as those of a mountain eagle, and his chin had never been desecrated
+with a razor. A kind of brushwood covered his face, and through it
+peeped, with the tip of his hooked nose, the features I have described.
+This immense uncultivated beard, tucked carefully within his waistcoat,
+reached nearly to his waist. Did I say it had never been shaved? I might
+add, it had never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> been combed. Lurking in it you might see leaves,
+white hairs, red hairs, bits of a butterfly's wing, two or three jay's
+feathers, a nutshell, some tobacco, a blade or two of grass, the cup of
+an acorn, or a little moss. Indeed, so strangely was it garnished that,
+when asleep on the grass under the trees, a robin was once seen to hover
+over him undecided as to whether she would build her nest in it, or pick
+out materials to make one elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Of uncommon intelligence, peculiarly taciturn, brave, frank, loyal, and
+incapable of a bad action, his mind was of a gloomy cast; he was always
+alone, he had no friends, he wanted none, and, if not hunting, reading
+the Bible or muttering to himself, with his eyes fixed on the ground. He
+lived like the woodcock, sad and solitary in his hole.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants dreaded him, and never spoke of him but as the <i>Sorcier</i>,
+the <i>Vieux Diable</i>; when naughty little children refused to learn their
+letters or to go to bed, it was only necessary to threaten them with
+sending for the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin and his red dog, and the whole of the rosy
+troop would scamper off to their nursery in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>I need scarcely say that amongst his other perfections he was a perfect
+shot&mdash;the best in the department,&mdash;and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> the moment he touched the
+trigger death winged his charge at two hundred paces. With a single ball
+from his rifle would he bring down the wild cat from the highest
+branches, and cut the poor squirrels in two, stop the howl of the wolf,
+or shiver the iron frontal bones of the wild boar.</p>
+
+<p>In short, his gun was his joy, his friend, his mistress, his all; he
+spoke to it, caressed it, rocked it on his knees as a mother would her
+sick child, and took a thousand times more care of it than he would have
+bestowed upon the most lovely wife, had he ever done anything so rash as
+to marry. It was a singular accident that brought us acquainted; and if
+I had had any respect for chronology, I should have related it before.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when rambling over the mountain in search of game, I put up and
+fired at a hare; she was evidently hit, and I gave chase, yet though
+puss had but three legs effective I could not overtake her,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+"I follow'd fast, but faster did she fly;"<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noin">at last, a bank stopped and turned her, and I was on the point of taking
+possession when a large red brindled dog dashed past and anticipated my
+purpose, carrying off my hare, without bestowing so much as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> glance
+upon me,&mdash;no, not even appearing to see that I was there. Electrified
+with astonishment, my left leg seemed pinned to the spot, while the
+right, extended on a level with my shoulder, emulated that of Cerito in
+"Giselle;" but recovering myself, I followed the thief, who made off
+with the speed of a greyhound, in the direction of a neighbouring wood,
+and on arriving at a little green knoll almost as soon as he did, I came
+suddenly upon a strange and uncouth-looking figure who was reclining
+comfortably on the grass beneath the shade of a large walnut-tree.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin's collation&mdash;The young sportsman and the hare&mdash;The
+quarrel&mdash;The apology&mdash;The reconciliation&mdash;The cemetery&mdash;Bait for
+barbel&mdash;Le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin's deceased friends&mdash;The return home. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">The</span> extraordinary personage in whose presence I so suddenly found myself
+was the celebrated P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, who, tired with his morning's sport, was
+taking his noontide meal; that is, appeasing his appetite, always
+enormous, with a loaf of black rye bread, into which he plunged his
+ivory teeth with hearty rapidity, now and then taking a mouthful out of
+a turnip he had pulled in a field hard by. The abominable quadruped was
+there too, planted on his haunches, just in front of his master, looking
+as innocent as a lamb, though still holding my hare between his teeth,
+probably not daring to lay it down without permission.</p>
+
+<p>P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin ate, drank, twisted his wiry moustache, dipped his turnip in
+the coarse salt, and from time to time cast a glance at his vile dog,
+without deigning to speak a word, or even to acknowledge my presence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+Furious at this behaviour, I bowed and said to him, "So, you are the
+owner of this precious cur?"</p>
+
+<p>The poacher signified his assent by a slight movement of the head.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if the dog belongs to you, the hare in his mouth belongs to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it?" said the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, and he looked at his dog, who winked
+his eye and shook his paw: "my dog tells me he caught this hare
+running."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it, the rascally vagabond! and with no great trouble either,
+seeing that the hare was half dead, and had but three legs to go upon."</p>
+
+<p>P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin threw his yellow eye on the cur again, and, as if he had
+understood all we said, he once more shook his paw, and gave a sort of
+sneeze.</p>
+
+<p>"My dog repeats, he coursed the hare well, and has a right to her."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by saying he has a right to her, when I tell you the
+hare belongs to me?"</p>
+
+<p>"And my dog says the reverse."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to Dijon with your dog!" I exclaimed, "I tell you the hare is mine."</p>
+
+<p>"My dog never told a lie," rejoined the <i>braconnier</i>, and he dipped the
+remnant of his turnip for the twentieth time in the salt. "Never."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p><p>"Then <i>I</i> am the liar," said I, beginning to feel hot, "I am the liar,
+ah! am I? By Jupiter! your dog, you bearded fool&mdash;your cur of a dog? I
+do not care a <i>sous</i> for his carcass any more than I do for yours. I'll
+have my hare."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't get excited, young man&mdash;don't be savage, I beg of you; for, as
+sure as I am a sinner, you'll have a crop of pimples on your nose
+to-morrow,&mdash;and red pimples on the nose are not pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep your jokes to yourself, old man, or on my honour you shall repent
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha! ha!" grinned the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, "Ha! ha! ha! capital turnip."</p>
+
+<p>"Houp! houp! houp!" went the dog.</p>
+
+<p>I was bewildered; such a strange adventure had never befallen me before.</p>
+
+<p>"Once, twice&mdash;will you give me my hare?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have I any hare of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"You? No, but your dog."</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! that's another affair. You must settle that with him. Take your
+hare, and let me eat my turnip in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Enraged at this, I rushed at the carroty dog, but he was off in an
+instant, jumping first behind the tree, and then behind his master,
+keeping my hare all the time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> fast in his mouth till I was fairly out of
+breath, and aggravated beyond expression.</p>
+
+<p>I looked towards the poacher. He was quietly plucking the top off a
+fresh turnip, but under the air of icy indifference which pervaded his
+whole exterior I detected a sarcastic smile, which fully convinced me
+that I was the laughing-stock of man and beast. I took my resolution,
+and P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, who had followed my movements with his eye, said drily,
+as I was going to put a cap on, "What are you going to do young man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing! just to kill your dog for taking my hare."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! you're joking."</p>
+
+<p>"Joking! am I? You shall see;" and I proceeded quietly to raise my gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Gently, my lad," roared the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, and he seized the weapon in
+his iron grasp.</p>
+
+<p>"I may be but a 'lad,' but I'll not give up my rights; the hare is mine,
+and I'll have her. Let go my gun!"</p>
+
+<p>"No!"</p>
+
+<p>"By&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then look out for yourself," said I, and with a rapid movement I
+attempted to draw my <i>couteau de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> chasse</i>; but long before I could get
+it out, he had seized me with both hands, and in a twinkling I measured
+my length upon the turf, and the knife was in his possession.</p>
+
+<p>"Child of violence!" he said, as he set me again on my legs, and pushed
+me from him, "Do you then already love to shed blood? Would you kill a
+man for a hare? Have you not the sense to distinguish a joke from an
+insult? There," he added, giving me back my knife, which had fallen from
+its sheath in the struggle, "young man, do your worst!"</p>
+
+<p>But I was now as angry with myself as I had been with the old man, and
+heartily ashamed of my conduct. I turned on my heel, and walked off,
+vexed beyond expression at my intemperate folly.</p>
+
+<p>The very next day, as good fortune would have it, I met him again in the
+forest, and lost not a moment in asking his forgiveness for my brutal
+conduct of the previous day.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! you acknowledge your fault, do you?" replied the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin,
+"enough, that shows you have a heart. I bear you no ill-will; you are
+<i>vif</i> as the mountain breeze, but that comes of being young. Give me
+your hand, and when you want a dove or lilies of the valley for your
+sister, venison or wild boar for your friends,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> I, my gun, and my dog,
+are at your service; but"&mdash;and he whispered in my ear&mdash;"no more knives."</p>
+
+<p>"See! see!" and I opened my jacket, "it is gone. I threw it into the
+moat this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis well! very well! You have had a happy escape, young man. <i>Au
+revoir.</i> Now, Faro, take your leave of Monsieur;" and instantly obeying
+a sign from his master, the red dog licked my boots. A moment more, and
+they were both lost to view in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>From that time I was frequently with the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, for he seemed to
+have a fancy&mdash;a sort of affection for me, and on my part I had an
+incomprehensible pleasure in his society, though in the early part of
+our acquaintance I could not divest myself of an undefined dread of him;
+and had some difficulty in reconciling myself to the harsh and guttural
+tones of his voice, and his peculiarly severe physiognomy. Nevertheless,
+many an evening did I slip away from the paternal hearth, much to the
+distress of my poor mother, to seat myself on one of his wooden stools,
+and eat the chestnuts he was roasting in the embers, while he related,
+by the pale light of his small charcoal fire, which but dimly showed the
+extent even of his small room, frightful stories of ghosts, suicides,
+drownings, and fearful murders, with which he delighted to terrify me;
+and, dear reader, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> succeeded to perfection, for all the time I sat
+listening to them I was cold, and trembled like a leaf in the northern
+blast.</p>
+
+<p>Well do I remember&mdash;yes, as well as if it had been yesterday&mdash;going out
+with him to fish for barbel, and joining him over-night to go in search
+of bait. I found him crouched by his fire, eating potatoes out of the
+same plate with his dog. This frugal meal over, he took up a small
+lantern, a large box, and a long spade, and beckoned me to follow him.</p>
+
+<p>The moon was rising as we left the hut, but red as blood, lightning
+streaked the sky at short intervals, and the wind howled as if a storm
+was approaching. P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin rubbed his hands, and an expression of
+satisfaction passed across his extraordinary countenance; for, living as
+he did a lonely wandering life, he had become superstitious, and firmly
+believed that worms caught at certain hours of the night, and in a
+breeze that foretold an approaching tempest, were more likely to attract
+the fish than those taken in the daylight. To this article of his creed
+I offered no objection, but I own my heart shrunk within me when I
+observed that he took the direct road to the burial-ground. "P&egrave;re
+S&eacute;guin," said I, "we need go no further; the turf in this lane is
+capital; we shall find all we want here without a longer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> walk." "Since
+when," he inquired in a voice that seemed to come from between his
+shoulders, "since when have young fawns taught the old roebuck the way
+to the forest-glades?" And he strode on without a word more, still in
+the direction I so much abhorred.</p>
+
+<p>Arriving at the cemetery, P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin walked leisurely round it, paying
+as much attention to me as if I had not been with him, and I followed
+like a criminal going to the scaffold. After having made a careful
+examination of the wall, he stopped suddenly, gave me the lantern and
+the spade, and leaped upon the top, desiring me to do the same. I
+hesitated, and fell back, for I felt more inclined to throw them down
+and run away, and P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin saw it.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha! ha!" he exclaimed, fixing his yellow eye upon me. "I thought you
+were heart of oak, young Sir; are you only a man of straw?"</p>
+
+<p>I gave no answer, but I leaped on to the wall like a rope-dancer.</p>
+
+<p>"Hum!" he muttered; "good legs, but a faint heart." And he begun rapidly
+to turn up the rank grass, and pick the large red worms from amongst the
+roots, when, looking up in my face, he said, with infinite coolness,
+"Why, you are as pale as my mother was on the day of her death! What
+ails you?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>"Ails me!" I replied, repressing my fears, "why to tell you the truth,
+I'd just as soon be anywhere else as here."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! pooh! young man; one must accustom one's self to everything in
+this world. We must learn&mdash;be always learning. Remember, for instance,
+for I'll be bound that you never heard of such a thing before, that
+worms taken in a burial-ground are the finest possible bait for barbel,
+do you hear?&mdash;taken by moonlight from the roots of the hemlock."</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens! P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, I would rather never catch a fish for the
+rest of my days than touch one of those worms!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, my lad&mdash;nonsense; they are admirable bait&mdash;fine fat
+fellows&mdash;sure to take. We shall have a wonderful day to-morrow. You will
+soon see how the giants and gourmands of the streams will snap at these
+beauties."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the barbel, P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin!&mdash;let us leave this cold churchyard. I
+feel sick, and a clammy cold creeping over me already&mdash;do let us be
+gone;" but he would not move.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't feel unwell, pray don't; it is a well-known fact, that any person
+who feels ill in a churchyard is sure to die within the year."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>"Let us leave then, for I do feel very ill;" but the purveyor of worms
+was now too much occupied to listen to me.</p>
+
+<p>Hopeless, therefore, of inducing him to leave till he had filled his
+box, I sat down on a tombstone, and the noise he made with the spade in
+the silence, the darkness, and the peculiar and sickening odour of the
+place, filled me with an indescribable sense of fear and horror.</p>
+
+<p>At length the poacher paused, and having disentangled a very long worm
+from the twisted roots of a large clod, he said, "This makes one hundred
+and thirteen&mdash;a holy number. Now I've done, my lad; let us be off."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;oh, yes!"&mdash;for the minutes seemed hours&mdash;"let us go instantly;"
+and I sprang from the tombstone, while P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin proceeded
+deliberately to fill up the holes, and replace the turf, whistling
+through his moustache just as if he had been in the middle of his
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>"One hundred and thirteen!&mdash;I like that number."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I, P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin; but do let us be going. If we remain here, they
+will think that we have killed and buried some one. Do, pray, be off;"
+and I made for the wall.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>"Stop!" he said suddenly, drawing himself up to his full height, six
+feet three, "Stop!" and throwing out his long arms, which made his
+shadow on the stones resemble an immense black cross, "Hold there! Look!
+Do you see that tomb&mdash;that large gray stone?"</p>
+
+<p>"I see nothing, P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, I will see nothing. I close my eyes, and
+only desire to be gone."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please," said the poacher; "but you are wrong. I could have told
+you a curious history&mdash;a most interesting history."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for your histories&mdash;much obliged to you; but I have had enough
+of them." Still P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin would persevere: "A woman, who has appeared
+to me three times&mdash;yes, three following days&mdash;spoken to me, pulled me by
+the fingers and by the beard eight days after her death."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes! I know; but which way are we to get out of this infernal
+place?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what a hurry you are in!&mdash;I say stop, and let me say good night to
+her!"&mdash;and P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin approached the tall gray stone, the moon shining
+full upon it, and struck it with the handle of his spade, calling each
+time in a solemn voice, "Madeleine! Madeleine! Madeleine!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>Had I been at that frightful moment cut in four quarters, not one drop
+of blood would have been found in my veins; my teeth chattered with
+terror, and I would have given every acre of my inheritance for strength
+enough to run away. "Madeleine! Madeleine!" le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin continued in
+a low and churchyard tone, "Madeleine!" he cried, leaning on the gray
+tomb, "'tis me, S&eacute;guin&mdash;le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin; good night, good night,
+Madeleine!"</p>
+
+<p>I could not speak, I could not move; and certainly had the lady
+whispered only one single little word in reply, I should have fainted.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is all over; she is dead for certain now!" said the poacher,
+shaking his head. "Alas! poor Madeleine! Gone in the flower of her age!
+Dead at two-and-twenty, for having offered me a violet! Dead! Let us
+begone."</p>
+
+<p>I beg you to understand I did not put him to the necessity of repeating
+his words, but found my legs in excellent running order in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold! not so fast!" said my companion, just as I was springing at the
+wall, and thought myself out of danger, "Hold! Down there, my young
+gentleman, in that dark corner amongst the brambles. You see that little
+heap of earth, which one might fancy a dead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> man alive had pushed up
+with his knees; well, there also is one of my comrades. Ho! halloo,
+Jerome!"</p>
+
+<p>"P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin," said I, "this is unworthy of you; you have no right thus
+to mock at and disturb the dead; you only want to torment me; and I have
+already told you, and I repeat it, I feel exceedingly ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come along then&mdash;let us go. I shall return here presently to
+sleep. Good night, Madeleine!&mdash;good night, Jerome!&mdash;good night, all of
+you who are sleeping so quietly under the green turf!"&mdash;and it seemed to
+me, as these adieus were uttered, that icy breezes passed from every
+tomb across my face, whispering in my ears, "Good night!" and that the
+firs, the yews, the cypress bending across our path seemed to salute us
+as we left the horrible precincts.</p>
+
+<p>We soon regained the town, and on the road there I would not have turned
+my head for a crown of rubies; P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, meanwhile, coolly carrying
+his box of worms, which I would not have touched for the best place in
+Paradise.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, instead of fishing for barbel, I was unable to rise
+from my bed; and for fifteen nights I never closed my eyes without
+seeing in my dreams ghosts, and all the horrid details of the churchyard
+and the charnel-house.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Passage of the woodcock in November&mdash;Their laziness&mdash;Night
+travelling&mdash;Mode of snaring them at night&mdash;Numbers taken in this
+way&mdash;This sport adapted rather for the poacher&mdash;The <i>braconnier</i> of
+Le Morvan&mdash;His mode of life&mdash;The poacher's dog&mdash;The double poacher. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">The</span> object of this chapter will be to give the reader some little
+insight into the habits of the woodcock, and the mode of snaring them in
+the forests of Le Morvan, during the month of November. At the close of
+this month, Dame Nature's barometer, their instinct, far better than the
+quicksilver, tells them the December rains are close at hand; and that
+if they remain in their hiding-places in the low grounds, they will be
+driven out by the approaching deluge. They at length make up their minds
+to set forth on their travels. With a long-drawn sigh, therefore, the
+woodcock bids farewell to the old oaks that have sheltered it all the
+summer, and taking leave of its friendly comrades, the squirrels, it
+sets out on the first fine night for a more genial climate, to the
+delight, no doubt, of the neighbouring worms, who pop their heads out of
+window to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> witness its departure; and the moment their enemy is fairly
+out of sight, perform many a pirouette on the tip of their tails, and
+dance upon the grass in honour of the joyous event.</p>
+
+<p>If a woodcock was not a woodcock, that is, one of the laziest birds in
+the creation, it might easily reach, in a few days' flight, the dry
+heaths, the hills, and elevated regions, which it loves; but woodcocks
+abhor all violent exercise, always preferring the use of their feet to
+that of their wings, which latter they never agitate, except when
+necessity requires. Well, they have now set out, and after marching all
+night by slow and easy stages, when morning comes our woodcocks make a
+halt wherever they happen to be, breakfast as best they may, and then
+ensconce themselves in some snug spot, where they doze the livelong day,
+till, refreshed by their twelve hours' rest, they set off again with
+renewed strength the moment the sun has gone down.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it is that during the middle of November there is no regular
+flight, but a kind of circulation, of woodcocks, perambulating from the
+lower to the higher regions, and the <i>gourmet</i> and the sportsman fail
+not to stop them on their way.</p>
+
+<p>As it is necessary in this kind of <i>chasse</i> to spend the night under the
+trees and on the damp moss,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> those who wish to enjoy it prepare for it
+accordingly by dressing themselves like Navarre, in a suit of
+sheepskins, and lay in a good store of cold meat and brandy.</p>
+
+<p>During their nocturnal peregrinations, instinct leads the woodcock to
+follow ascending roads and open pathways, especially such as are
+completely exposed to the mild winds of the south and south-east only;
+they avoid walking through the woods, where the road is encumbered with
+brambles and other obstacles, which would oblige them to hop or fly far
+oftener than they like, occasionally leaving a portion of their feathers
+behind them. Moreover, their feet are tender, and they in consequence
+prefer the paths that are overgrown with grass, the open glades, or
+roads cut through the moss.</p>
+
+<p>It is now that the sportsman who is well versed in the private history
+of the woodcock prepares his snares; for at this period of the year it
+is by them that they are taken.</p>
+
+<p>Penetrating, therefore, the depths of the forest, the experienced
+<i>chasseur</i> soon discovers, in some secluded spot, a path well carpeted
+with verdure, lighted by a few stray moonbeams and sheltered from the
+wind, where he forthwith begins to lay his snares. Should the path be
+broad, he proceeds to contract it, strewing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> it partially with stones,
+brambles, and thorns; he likewise cuts down some twigs and branches, and
+sticks them into the ground at intervals, so as to present as many
+impediments and <i>chevaux de frise</i> as he can to thwart the progress of
+the lazy bird. The middle of the path should be left quite free, and
+wide enough to allow a couple of woodcocks to walk abreast. Into this
+narrow passage they all walk without suspicion, and their further
+progress is prevented by their falling into the trap which is laid to
+receive them.</p>
+
+<p>This snare is placed across a hole about the size of a crown piece, and
+consists of a strong noose made of horsehair, which is fixed to a peg,
+and so arranged that the slightest touch causes it to rebound and catch
+them by the leg.</p>
+
+<p>In the hole is laid a fine, fat, red worm, healthy and tempting, and, in
+order to prevent the poor prisoner's escaping, the sportsman has devised
+a method of keeping him down in spite of himself, by pinning him to the
+ground at one end with a long thorn&mdash;it is presumed worms do not feel;
+his miserable contortions attract the attention of the hungry woodcock,
+who immediately seizes this irresistible tit-bit.</p>
+
+<p>Every preparation completed and the snare baited, the hole, the worm,
+and the noose are carefully covered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> over by a withered leaf&mdash;a second
+snare, similarly concealed, is set on the right, a third in the middle,
+and so on at a distance of three or four feet from each other. All is
+now in readiness, and twilight finds the sportsman covered up in his
+skins at some fifty paces from his traps. Here, after having comforted
+his inward man, and sharpened his sight by swallowing two or three
+glasses of cognac, addressing between them an invocation to his patron
+saint, he listens and waits.</p>
+
+<p>On come the long-bills, looking right and left, pecking the ground,
+peering at the moon and the stars, and eating all they can find in their
+way. They now approach the dangerous defile, and some of the younger
+ones fly over the traps; others, more prudent, turn back; but the main
+body hold a council of war, when the staff officers having decided that
+these Thermopyl&aelig; must be passed, first one woodcock and then another
+taking heart proceeds, and the sportsman hugs himself in his success on
+perceiving the whole troop making towards the baits he has spread for
+them. Before long one of the birds gets its leg entangled, totters,
+falls, rises again, but in doing so is made fast by the noose, and in
+spite of its efforts is unable to advance a step further. Another,
+hearing the sound of a worm struggling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> at the bottom of a hole, darts
+in its beak, with the charitable intention of ending the prisoner's
+sufferings, and on raising its head is suddenly seized by the neck. The
+sportsman now steals softly from his hiding-place, and, stooping down,
+smashes the woodcock's brain with his thumb nail, and so on with the
+next, after which he retreats to his post, and keeps up the game till
+dawn. Some persons will in this manner catch from twenty to thirty
+woodcocks in a single night; but they must be favourably placed, have a
+great number of snares, and, moreover, possess a considerable degree of
+skill, and tread lightly, (for the most important point, in this sport,
+is to make as little noise as possible,) and be very quick at putting
+the snares in order the moment they have been used&mdash;no easy work, in
+good sooth, seeing that it must be performed by an occasional ray of
+moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>If late on the ground, and you have not sufficient time to obstruct and
+barricade the road as directed above, the earth may be turned up in the
+middle of the path and the snares placed across it; the woodcocks, in
+the hope of finding something to eat, will immediately walk on to
+it&mdash;but although this method occasionally succeeds it is far from being
+as good as the first, for the soil does not offer the same resistance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+as the turf, the holes get filled up, and the birds escape more easily.</p>
+
+<p>The sportsman should mind and bag his game as fast as it is snared, or
+master Reynard, who has been watching the whole affair, will pounce upon
+his birds and carry them off, with a dozen nooses into the bargain.</p>
+
+<p>Poachers reap an ample harvest of cash by this mode of taking woodcocks,
+while other sportsmen generally reap the rheumatism; and, truth to say,
+the silence and immobility that must be observed all night long, the
+intense cold, and the damp fogs which cover the forest in the early
+morning, are not very agreeable, and most gentlemen prefer staying at
+home, enjoying the innocent diversion of playing the flute, quarrelling
+with their wives, or emptying the bottle.</p>
+
+<p>To succeed well in snaring woodcocks requires both skill and experience,
+and a thorough knowledge of the woods, the winds, the colour of the
+clouds, the age of the moon, the state of the atmosphere; and, in fact,
+short of being a poacher or a conjuror, how is it possible to know that
+the woodcocks will pass one spot rather than another in a space of
+several score of square miles, and amongst so many and such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> intricate
+paths. The <i>braconnier</i> alone is infallible on these points, and curious
+specimens of the human biped are these same poachers!</p>
+
+<p>In the first place it must not be imagined that the poachers of Le
+Morvan bear the slightest resemblance to those of England. They are as
+much alike as Thames water and Burgundy wine. The English poacher is a
+rank vagabond, who invades every one's game-preserves at dead of night,
+and kills whatever he finds, whether hares, partridges, dogs, pheasants,
+or gamekeepers,&mdash;while ours are men following a legitimate occupation.</p>
+
+<p>In Le Morvan, forests are open to all; there are no palings to get over,
+and no keepers to fear; the public may hunt, shoot, or snare what they
+please.</p>
+
+<p>The poacher commences his hard apprenticeship in early childhood. Nature
+directs him to adopt this course of life, and endows him with a bold
+heart, a cool head, a sinewy frame, and an iron constitution. The
+incipient poachers soon leave the inhabited districts to live in the
+forests, with trees for their roof, and moss for their bed. They study
+alike the woods and the stars, and know the forest by heart, with its
+roads and glades, beaten tracks and untrodden paths. From sunrise to
+sunset they are always-a-foot, walking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> through the thickets, tramping
+over heaths, or stooping amongst the brushwood, listening, and looking
+everywhere, and by night and by day constantly making their observations
+on the direction of the wind, the habits of the animals that pass them,
+or the birds that fly over their heads.</p>
+
+<p>In this way they ferret out every nook and every winding in the forest,
+and now here and now there build themselves a hut, live upon fruit,
+chestnuts, and their game, which they roast upon embers; and never come
+into a town except to purchase powder, shot and ball, or perhaps a pair
+of shoes, some tobacco, and brandy.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the rough life of the youthful poacher, nor has he any companion
+during this wild period of his existence, excepting a dog, the faithful
+partner of his joys and dangers, and who becomes a devoted friend and
+brother for life. They live together, talk to each other, understand
+each other, and guess each other's slightest wish. I have seen a poacher
+talking to his dog by the hour together, the man laughing fit to split
+at what his canine companion was telling him in his own peculiar way,
+while the dog, rolling on the grass, barked with delight at what his
+master answered.</p>
+
+<p>When on their shooting expeditions, a sign from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> master, a nod, a
+wink, an uplifted finger, or the slightest whisper, are either of them
+sufficient for his guidance; he stops, or dashes onward, takes a leap,
+or crouches down, as the case may be, and never is he known to be at
+fault.</p>
+
+<p>On his part the poacher has only to refer to his dog as to the pages of
+a book, and he reads at once in his slightest movements what is in the
+wind, what bird lies hidden in the grass, or what beast is cowering in
+the thicket. By the position of his head, the manner in which he
+scratches the ground, pricks his ear, or carries his tail, he
+understands as plainly as if he spoke whether he announces the proximity
+of a wolf, a partridge, a woodcock, a roebuck, a hare, or a rabbit.</p>
+
+<p>I have known poachers who have told me half an hour beforehand what we
+were going to meet. Another would bid his dog bring him a leaf, a
+branch, a flower, or a mushroom, and off he went, sought, found, and
+brought back the identical article required. "Now, sing," said the
+poacher, and the dog began to sing; not, indeed, exactly like Mario, but
+he produced a kind of melodious growl, a sort of improvised musical
+lament over his solitary life, which had its charm. Most poachers are
+exceedingly fond of music, and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> they are always singing in their
+leisure moments, of course their dog joins them; so that when they are
+both in the humour for it, they execute duets in the depths of the
+forest that make the very nightingales jealous.</p>
+
+<p>By the time a poacher has acquired a complete knowledge of wood-craft,
+and that he knows familiarly every path and every bush in the forest,
+every hole and every stone in the mountains, together with the habits,
+character, and favourite haunts of every species of game; has made a
+reputation, and put by some money; that he is beginning to turn gray,
+and is verging on forty, his fondness for this savage kind of life
+begins to diminish, his rough exterior becomes somewhat softened, he
+purchases a solitary little cottage in some secluded spot, comes oftener
+into town, and occasionally partakes of its pleasures.</p>
+
+<p>In poaching, as in everything else, there are varieties of taste, and
+degrees of superiority. Some fish, others hunt only the roebuck and the
+boar, others shoot squirrels and wild cats, others again excel in
+snaring woodcocks, while some are dead hands at scenting and tracking a
+wolf. Each poacher has his peculiar line, and each line furnishes a
+livelihood.</p>
+
+<p>But when it happens, once in a way, that there is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> man who unites a
+profound knowledge of the forest to an equally profound knowledge of the
+waters&mdash;who hunts, tracks, and shoots all sorts of game with equal
+success, and is also an expert fisherman, then he is a superior man of
+his kind, complete at all points, a sort of Napoleon in his way, and his
+countrymen bestow on him the title of the "double poacher,"&mdash;for thus
+was called my worthy friend Le P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The woodcock&mdash;Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan&mdash;Aversion of
+dogs to this bird&mdash;Timidity of the woodcock&mdash;Its cunning&mdash;Shooting
+in November&mdash;The Woodcock mates&mdash;The Woodcock fly. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">In</span> the last and preceding chapters, the imaginative and romantic have
+predominated almost to the entire exclusion of any description of the
+wild sports of Le Morvan, and I fear that the sporting reader, not
+generally of a very sentimental taste, will ere this have become
+impatient, and perhaps a little angry at the delay. I trust, however,
+that I may be able to soften his indignation, and by the following
+sketches gratify the expectations naturally raised in his mind by the
+first words of the title-page. Of boar and wolf-hunting we shall speak
+further on: my present object will be to give a description, not only of
+the woodcock-shooting in Burgundy and Le Morvan, but also of the habits,
+etc., of that bird.</p>
+
+<p>In the forests of which we are writing, the woodcock is not a mere bird
+of passage, as in other European countries; it does not fly beyond sea,
+like the swallow and most of the emigrating feathered tribes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> nor does
+it disappear like the quail, at a fixed period, and reappear at a given
+moment. Here the woodcock seldom if ever deserts the forests which have
+been its constant abode, and the sportsman is sure to find it nearly all
+the year round. I have said nearly, for though not seeking other climes,
+it requires a change of locality to secure a certain temperature.</p>
+
+<p>For instance, in the months of May, June, July, and August, woodcocks
+are to be found in elevated spots, such as mountains covered with large
+trees, or in warm open places on their slopes. At the first approach of
+cold weather they leave the hills, and come down into the plains,
+concealing themselves in the underwood, or the fern, or in the high
+grass, when the snow begins to fall. The woodcock is a melancholy bird,
+and somewhat misanthropic. Its habits are eminently anti-social; it
+flies but little, so little indeed that its wings seem scarcely of any
+use, and with the laziness already alluded to that forms its
+characteristic feature, it seeks out a solitary spot, and having dug a
+hole amongst the dry leaves, there it will squat for days together
+without stirring. It likewise delights to cower under the gnarled roots
+of an old oak, or to hide itself in a holly-bush, and apparently derives
+so much satisfaction from its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> own meditations, and seems to hold all
+other birds of the forest in such utter contempt, that it never by any
+chance deigns to join their sports, or mingle in their joyous songs. The
+woodcock seeks the darkest and most silent thickets, and likes a marly
+soil, damp meadows, and the neighbourhood of brooks and stagnant water.</p>
+
+<p>But though motionless and torpid, so long as the sun is above the
+horizon, woodcocks are always on the alert, and wake and shake their
+feathers the moment night comes; leaving the shady thickets and grassy
+spots, they flock to the glades and little paths of the woods, and
+thrust their long beaks into the soft, damp soil&mdash;for this bird, be it
+remembered, never touches either corn or fruit, but lives entirely upon
+grubs and earth-worms.</p>
+
+<p>It naturally follows that the woodcock, which finds its food in slimy
+marshes, with head bent, and eyes fixed upon the ground, possesses none
+of the gaiety and vivacity of other birds, holds but a very low place in
+the scale of animal intelligence, and possesses a large share of that
+stupidity peculiar to the dull species that were formed to live in the
+mire.</p>
+
+<p>The size of the woodcock varies exceedingly; they are much smaller than
+the domestic fowl, but heavier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> and larger than the heath partridge; yet
+there are some which are as small as a wood-pigeon, and even less. Their
+plumage is dark, and harmonizes admirably with the trunks of the trees
+and moss amongst which they dwell. Even in the daylight, and at a
+distance of only twenty paces, it is impossible to distinguish a
+woodcock, as it lies motionless, with closed wings, and neck extended on
+the ground, amongst the withered leaves.</p>
+
+<p>When walking on the grass, there is a certain elegance in its movements,
+while the beautiful <i>chiar' oscuro</i> tints of its wings, the gray and
+orange hues on its breast, its long black legs streaked with pink, its
+large beak, small head, and symmetrical proportions, combine to render
+it a bird of no ordinary beauty. Though its eyes are piercing and very
+open, the woodcock only sees distinctly at twilight, and its flight is
+never so even or so rapid, nor its motions so brisk, or its gait so
+regular, as at nightfall or at dawn of day.</p>
+
+<p>The flesh is black, firm, and of a game flavour, and, with the wise, is
+a most dainty morsel, a royal tit-bit. But dogs think differently, and
+have such an aversion to its smell, that they hunt, seize, and bring it
+back much against their will; and, difficult as it may be to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> account
+for this antipathy, it seems to be as inherent in canine nature, as the
+antipathy which all ladies show to contradiction is in the human.</p>
+
+<p>Far removed from the strife that occasionally rages amidst the feathered
+tribes of the forest, or the more formidable struggles of its
+four-footed inhabitants, whose howls occasionally startle the silence of
+night, and quite indifferent as to whether a fox or a wolf is seated on
+the sylvan throne, the woodcock, like a true philosopher, in the depths
+of the thicket, leads a calm and sedentary life, requiring no other
+elements of happiness than moonlight, rest, and a few worms. Its tastes
+are so humble, its wants so few; it mixes so little with the world, and
+is so ignorant of all intrigue, that nothing can exceed its innocence.
+Like those honest country-folks who can never manage to shake off their
+native simplicity, its instinct never puts it on its guard against a
+snare, and consequently it falls into the first that is set for it.</p>
+
+<p>A complete stranger to the fierce emotions that excite the savage nature
+of those animals that live constantly at war with one another, the
+peaceful woodcock&mdash;the bird of twilight&mdash;is startled by the least noise,
+and stunned by the slightest accident. Many a time, at dawn of day, when
+lying in wait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> for the passage of a fox, a roebuck, or a wolf, have I
+seen two, three, four, even five woodcocks slowly issue from their leafy
+covert, and advance with measured step towards the open glade,
+apparently without imagining that by leaving the shade of the trees they
+were exposing themselves to being seen. On they walked, searching by the
+way, plunging from time to time their long beaks into the grass, and
+shaking their heads right and left to enlarge the hole, they breakfasted
+luxuriously on the worms that crept out of it.</p>
+
+<p>Concealed behind an oak-tree, I have sometimes been highly amused by
+watching their motions, nor had I the least wish to disturb them, not
+caring to rouse the echoes of the forest for such insignificant game. So
+the woodcocks went on with their man&#339;uvres, holding down their heads,
+with eyes intent upon the grass, evidently engrossed by their own
+occupation. In this manner they unconsciously advanced close to me, when
+suddenly rising from the ground I gave a loud shout, at which the
+startled birds were so panic-struck that they literally fell down, and
+fluttering their wings, without having the power to fly, looked at me
+with rolling eye-balls, while their beaks opened as if to call for help,
+emitting nothing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> but inarticulate sounds, that seemed so many prayers
+for mercy. Somewhat relieved of their worst fears, on perceiving that I
+had no evil intentions, they rushed away head over heels, and sought
+refuge under their favourite roots. The recollection of this scene,
+which only lasted seven or eight seconds, has often made me laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Yet notwithstanding this general want of presence of mind, the woodcock
+displays some cunning in extreme danger,&mdash;such as when the shot is
+whistling past its feathers, or when the hawk is wheeling about in the
+air above its head; its faculties then seem to awaken, its blood
+circulates more freely, a spark of intelligence seems to flash across
+its usually obtuse brain, and the magnitude of the peril suggests an
+excellent means of escaping from its enemies. During the daytime, for
+instance, when, snugly ensconced in its hole, and with its ear close to
+the ground, the woodcock hears you approach from afar, instead of rising
+and taking refuge amongst the trunks of the surrounding trees, it first
+reflects solemnly whether it is worth while to disturb itself for so
+slight a noise, and quit its leafy bed, where it lies so warm and
+comfortable. After all, it may be only a hare running past&mdash;or perhaps a
+roebuck grazing in the neighbourhood&mdash;so the woodcock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> waits, then
+listens, then stands up and begins to move; on hearing your thick shoes
+trampling the withered branches, it stands motionless, not daring to
+stir, nor can it make up its mind to fly until it feels the breath of
+your dog. Then it rises rapidly enough.</p>
+
+<p>It flies straight, but its flight is not even, and at the distance of
+about fifty paces, and just as you are going to fire, the woodcock, well
+aware that the sportsman's eye is upon it, and shrewdly guessing that
+thunder and lightning is about to follow, changes his tactics, and
+lowering its flight, so as to avoid the mortal aim, suddenly plunges
+down behind a bush. The sportsman, who, not aware of this specious
+man&#339;uvre, fires at this juncture, thinks the bird has fallen dead,
+and forthwith runs to pick it up, but no woodcock can he find; for on
+raising his eyes, lo! and behold, he sees the provoking bird some five
+hundred paces distant, cleaving the air with sails full set; and as his
+eyes follow it still further, he perceives it flying with all its might,
+ever and anon prudently ducking down to avoid the second barrel.</p>
+
+<p>This is one of the woodcock's best stratagems, and it succeeds ten times
+out of twelve, at least with the tyros among sportsmen.</p>
+
+<p>When fairly tired by its flight, the woodcock drops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> into the underwood,
+and is then completely lost to the sportsman; for, once on the ground,
+it runs with the greatest celerity, its wings working rapidly like a
+couple of paddles, and vanishing beneath the leaves, falls fainting into
+some snug corner.</p>
+
+<p>In Brittany and in Lower Normandy this ornament of the table and delight
+of the sportsman is found in great numbers at a certain season of the
+year. In Picardy, and in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, I have sometimes
+knocked over as many as twenty woodcocks in one day, while on the morrow
+and the day following I could not flush three. Such is not the case in
+Le Morvan, where they are, as we have before remarked, to be found all
+the year round; the proper seasons, however, for shooting them are
+three. These are, the month of November, before the rains set in; the
+month of April, when they mate; and the sultry months of June and July;
+the period of drought and of the dog-days. In the interim of these
+epochs they are allowed to enjoy themselves, and suffered to fatten
+quietly in their dark thickets. I shall, therefore, only notice these
+three periods.</p>
+
+<p>In foggy or cloudy nights, when the branches of the trees are dripping
+wet, the woodcock, ensconced in its hole, feels no hunger, moves not,
+and would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> venture abroad for love or money; but should the sky
+prove clear, and the moon shine forth, lighting up the forest paths, the
+delighted bird steals from its dwelling, shakes its feathers, and
+sallies forth on its adventures. For the woodcock, like poets and
+lovers, is fond of the moonlight and the sweet perfumes of evening.
+Hence it is that sportsmen in France call the full moon of November "the
+woodcock's moon," and they hail its appearance with as much rejoicing as
+do the foxes, wild cats, and poachers, all of whom make sad havoc
+amongst the long-beaked tribe during this fatal period.</p>
+
+<p>The woodcock has been described as an idle, heavy, timid, and stupid
+bird, which passes the greater portion of the day in lethargic slumbers,
+in gazing at the south, at the growing grass, or the falling leaves;
+rejoicing only in silence and solitude; and such is the case during nine
+months of the year. In the spring, however, it is quite otherwise; the
+woodcock then mates, and, ere April showers have passed away, becomes
+animated, sociable, and full of life; and, more extraordinary still, its
+voice, till then mute, may actually be heard.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, at this delightful season the woodcock is no longer silent, its
+tongue is loosened, it breathes its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> tale of love, and, with joyful
+notes, proclaims its happiness morning and night; and yet there are
+those who would make us believe that the tender passion is useless, that
+love is tom-foolery, or that it does not exist. To these blind
+blasphemers, who thus deny its power, I would respectfully say, Come to
+Le Morvan, and observe the woodcock, and then dare to say that love is
+an untruth. Why, love is the great magician of the universe, the sun of
+our minds, a path of fragrant violets, a perfect copse of <i>millefleurs</i>,
+before which we all bend our hearts, aye, and, with vastly few
+exceptions, our heads too. Yes, we all, at some period of our lives,
+taste the delicious draught, and some drink deep of it, either to their
+life-long happiness or the reverse. Love effects many a miracle, changes
+everything, bows the neck of the proud, opens the eyes of the blind, and
+shuts them for those who have very good sight; teaches the dumb to
+speak, and those who are very loquacious to be silent. When the rosy and
+naked little boy makes his appearance with his quiver, all is joy and
+unreflecting happiness; when he is at home with his mamma, alas! the
+world is all in shadow. The woodcocks, in like manner, are amiable,
+eloquent, and engaging as long as the fumes of love affect their brain;
+but when these are dissipated, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> are dumb, and ten times more stupid
+than they were before; and, dear me, how many human woodcocks, robed in
+satin and balzarine, or sheathed in kerseymere trousers, are the same.</p>
+
+<p>But, shades of Buffon and Linn&aelig;us! we must not thus rattle on, but
+proceed to describe the nuptial couch of the delicious bird under our
+consideration. The woodcock, like all those of the feathered tribe that
+do not perch, makes its nest on the ground, which is composed of leaves,
+fern, and dry grass, intermixed with little bits of stick, and
+strengthened by larger pieces placed across it. This nest, made without
+much art or care, in form like a large brown ball, is generally placed
+under, and sheltered by the root of some old tree. Four or five eggs, a
+little larger than those of the common pigeon, of a dirty gray and
+yellow colour, and marked with little black spots, are the proofs of its
+maternity. The woodcock, as I have before remarked, has only the gift of
+talking in the spring season, when soft breezes fan the air, and they
+educate their young. Nevertheless, it is in this season that
+woodcock-shooting is the most amusing. Then is the time for gentlemen to
+shoot; the <i>braconnier</i> despises it. From the middle of April to that of
+May is the important epoch at which the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> generality of animals marry,
+and the woodcocks are not behindhand in this respect; they leave their
+well-concealed retreats, become humanized, solicit the attentions of
+their feathered ladies, and fly with gay inspirations amongst the
+neighbouring bushes. But though as much in love as a widow, the woodcock
+does not on that account forget its habitual prudence; like the usurer
+who lends his money, and takes every precaution, the woodcock is equally
+careful, and does not leave its nest till twilight has draped the earth
+in the gray mantle of evening. When the humid atmosphere descends slowly
+on the trees, when the cool breezes of night ascend the valleys, when
+distant objects begin to assume a fantastic shape, when the branches of
+the oak near you, like the arms of a giant, wave to and fro, and seem to
+ask you to approach; when the withered tree, devoid of leaves, looks
+like a brigand on the watch, or your comrade, ensconced against it,
+seems to form a portion of it at a hundred yards off; when, in short,
+the sportsman can see only a few yards before him, then is the moment
+that the circumspect and wily woodcock leaves its abode, and pays a
+nocturnal visit to his friends; and man, his enemy, and still more
+cunning, is on the alert. The sport which we are about to describe, and
+which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> does not last longer than from thirty to forty minutes, has
+something particularly taking in it. At the close of day a universal
+silence reigns in the forest, and every sportsman is at his post with
+bated breath, and eyes dilated as wide as a woman's listening to a
+neighbouring gossip's tale, when, all at once&mdash;pray note this well,
+reader&mdash;a little fly, which plays a prominent part in all sport <i>&agrave;
+l'aff&ucirc;t</i> (in ambush)&mdash;a little fly, about the size of a pea, regularly
+makes its appearance, and wheeling round your head, fidgets you for five
+minutes with its buzzing b-r-r-r-r-r-r-oo. In this way the little insect
+informs you the woodcocks have left the underwood, that they are
+approaching, and that it hears them coming; and odd or marvellous as it
+may seem, this signal of the little fly, which never misleads you&mdash;this
+signal which falls upon your ear just at the proper and precise moment,
+is as certain as that two and two make four. Be not sceptical, and
+imagine that this is chance; no such thing. Go when you will to the
+<i>chasse &agrave; l'aff&ucirc;t</i>, station yourself in whichever part of the forest you
+like, be assured the fly will be there; it was never otherwise. The
+question is, who sends the fly? how does it know the sportsman? and by
+what mysterious chronometer does it regulate with such exactness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> its
+movements? <i>Chi lo sa?</i> He who doth not let a sparrow fall to the ground
+without He willeth it. Equally incomprehensible is the departure of this
+little insect, which, the concert over, and when you are thoroughly on
+the <i>qui vive</i>, ceases its buzz, and is heard no more. At this very
+moment, the silence in which you have till then remained is suddenly
+broken by shouts of "They come! they come!" quickly followed by bang,
+bang, bang along the glade; and here indeed they are, at first by twos
+and threes, and then a compact flight, whirling along with appealing
+cries of love, fluttering, and flapping their wings, and pursuing one
+another from bush to bush. They show now neither fear nor
+circumspection, and crazy, blind, and deaf, scarcely seem to notice the
+noise, the flashes, or the cries of the sportsmen. At length all is in
+complete confusion. They toss and twirl about like great leaves in a
+hurricane, and finally fly, with their ranks somewhat diminished, to
+their several homes. This sport lasts but a short half-hour; after
+which, the woodcocks having said all they had to say, made and accepted
+their engagements for the following day, vanish as if by magic, like the
+puff of a cigar, a shadow, or a royal promise, and the same silence that
+preceded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> their arrival reigns once more in the forest. No gun is loaded
+after their departure; the sportsmen assemble, count the dead, never so
+numerous, as one might suppose, and having bagged them, also retire from
+the scene. I have known one person kill four couple of woodcocks in this
+manner, but it was quite an exceptional case; two or three is nearer the
+usual number. Chance, as in war, in marriage, in everything, is
+frequently the secret of success; but if you are not cool and collected,
+and handy with your gun, you will scarce carry a <i>salmi</i> home to your
+expectant friends. To the young sportsman, the novelty, confusion, and
+hubbub of these evening shooting-parties are perfectly bewildering;
+Parisian cockneys, above all, are quite beside themselves, shutting
+first one eye and then the other, firing, of course, without having
+taken any aim, and eventually beating a retreat without a feather in
+their game-bags. But to the veteran, this fevered half-hour, this brief
+<i>chasse</i>, is most delightful; everything conspires to make it lively and
+exciting. The party, ten or twelve jolly dogs, have generally dined
+together, and the onslaught over, they all return by the pale moonlight,
+shoulder to shoulder, singing snatches of some old hunting-song, the
+stars overhead and the woodcocks on their backs. A young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Parisian and
+college friend of mine, Adolphe Gustave de&mdash;&mdash;, very rich and very
+witty, whom, after many unsuccessful attempts, I induced to leave the
+capital, and pass six months with me in the deserts, as he called them,
+of Le Morvan, loved this species of sport intensely, though he never
+shot anything. His bag, however, was always better filled than that of
+any of his comrades, for though a wretched shot, he had the wit to stand
+near a good one, and as he was wonderfully quick with his legs, eyes,
+and fingers, he was constantly picking up his neighbour's birds, vowing
+all the time they were his own shooting.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Fine names&mdash;Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages&mdash;Gustavus Adolphus!
+no hero!&mdash;The Parisian Sportsman&mdash;Partridge-shooting
+despicable&mdash;Wild boar-hunting&mdash;Rousing the grisly monster&mdash;His
+approach&mdash;The post of honour&mdash;Good nerves&mdash;The death&mdash;The trophy
+and congratulations. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Few</span> persons well acquainted with France can have failed to observe how
+fond the lower orders, indeed all classes, are of giving high-sounding
+names to their children; and it is sometimes truly amusing to notice the
+strange upset of associations which in consequence jar the auricular
+nerve, and illustrate the singularly exalted notions of the godfathers
+and godmothers. "Gustave Adolphe!" I once heard an old cook vociferate
+from the kitchen of a small inn to a boy in the yard. "Gustave Adolphe!"
+shrieked the aged heroine of the sauce-pans, pitching her voice in A
+alto, "<i>Coupez donc les choux!</i>" Cutting cabbages! What an antithesis to
+the glorious victor of Lutzen. The remark will apply with equal force to
+the Gustave Adolphe of the last chapter, though on a different point,
+and the contrast between the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> great Gustavus and he of Paris, was most
+diverting. My accomplished friend, a charming dancer, a <i>beau parleur</i>,
+a first-rate singer, who made sad havoc among the fresh and fair
+gazelles of every ballroom, this tremendous <i>chasseur-de-salon</i>, I very
+soon perceived, was by no means so tremendous in the stubbles;&mdash;a covey
+fairly startled him, and if a hare rose between his legs he turned quite
+pale.</p>
+
+<p>"My good fellow," I said to him one day, seeing his extraordinary
+trepidation, "if you are so staggered by a covey of partridges, what in
+the world will you do when I set you face to face with a wolf or a wild
+boar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! that is a very different affair. A wolf or a wild boar? Why, I
+should kill one and eat the other, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so easy," I should think, "for a novice like you."</p>
+
+<p>"Novice, indeed! me a novice. Oh! you are quite in error. The fact is,
+these devils of birds and rabbits lie hidden, do you see, under the
+grass like frogs, one never knows where; so that I never see them till
+they are all but in my eyes, or cutting capers like Taglioni's under my
+feet, and your dogs putting out their tongues, and staring at me."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p><p>"Why, of course they do; the intelligent brutes are ready to expire at
+your awkwardness."</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged to you for the compliment. Again, you say, they turn their
+tails to the right by way of telling me that I am to go to the left; and
+to the left, when I am to walk to the right. Who, I ask you, is to
+understand such telegraphs as these? I have not yet learned how to
+converse with dogs' tails&mdash;intelligence, indeed! I believe it is all
+humbug; for, when my whole soul is absorbed in watching the tips of
+these very tails, a crowd of partridges jump up just in front of me,
+making as much noise as if they were drummers beating the retreat. If I
+am hurried and stupefied"....</p>
+
+<p>"And if," I added, "you are much disposed to throw down your gun as to
+fire it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well! supposing I am; what is the wonder? 'Tis no fault of mine&mdash;I am
+not used to partridge-shooting! I am not a wild man of the woods, like
+you! I did not cut my teeth gnawing a cartridge, as you did!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come! don't be affronted."</p>
+
+<p>"Affronted? No; but you have no consideration. You're a Robin Hood, an
+exterminator! if you look at one partridge, you kill four! You sleep
+with your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> rifle, turn your game-bag into a nightcap, and shave with a
+<i>couteau-de-chasse</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"May be so! but let us have the fact."</p>
+
+<p>"The fact! Then I hate your long-tailed dogs, and your detestable
+flights of noisy birds! Let me have them one by one, like larks in the
+plain of St. Denis, and I'll soon clear the province for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, Adolphe, we should have something to thank you for!"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what, Henri; those partridges, after all, are trumpery
+things to kill. 'Tis mere hurry that prevents my hitting them. Don't
+imagine I am frightened! If you wish to give me real pleasure, let us go
+to India and shoot a lion or a tiger;&mdash;give me a chance with an
+elephant!"</p>
+
+<p>"Willingly; but allow me to suggest, that if we set out for India, we
+shall not get back in time for dinner."</p>
+
+<p>"We will keep in Europe, then; but, at least, show me some game worthy
+of me. A serpent&mdash;I will cut him in two at a stroke. A bull&mdash;I will soon
+send a brace of balls into him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well done! just like a Parisian."</p>
+
+<p>"Parisian! Pray what do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"A boaster, if you prefer the word."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>"Ha! ha! a boaster, indeed! Do you mean to say that I'm afraid of a
+bull?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. However, as there are no bulls here, I will send the
+head <i>piqueur</i> upon the track of a wild boar which was seen near the
+chateau last night; he will exactly suit you. I consider him as doomed."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Henri; thank you; the moment I am fairly in front of him, I
+shall fire at his eyes, and no doubt lodge both balls in them. Poor
+Belisarius! how he will charge me in his agony! but I shall retire,
+reload, and then, having drawn my hunting-knife, dispatch him without
+further ceremony."</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear, you shall have the post of honour; and if you do not turn
+upon your heel, why, my dear friend, you will rise at least a dozen pegs
+in my estimation."</p>
+
+<p>"Turn on my heel! you little know me; and then, what a sensation I shall
+create in Paris with my boar's skin. I'll have it stuffed, gild his
+tusks, and silver-mount his hoofs. I shall be quite the hero of the
+<i>salons</i>."</p>
+
+<p>That very afternoon orders were given to the head-keeper to send the
+<i>traqueurs</i> into the forest on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> the following day, and on their return,
+they announced that not only traces of wild boar had been met with, but
+one had actually been seen. Great were the preparations and cleaning of
+rifles and <i>couteaux-de-chasse</i> when this intelligence was received;
+but, in spite of his assumed composure, Adolphe's ardour seemed
+considerably to diminish, and the conversation that evening over the
+fire was not calculated to inspire him with fresh courage.</p>
+
+<p>"How very soon they find the boar!" said he to me. "Tell me how the
+affair commences."</p>
+
+<p>"Why these <i>traqueurs</i> are not long in discovering him. They know
+exactly where to look for one, for they study their habits; the traces
+of the grisly rascal are seen by them immediately; they mark his
+favourite paths, the thickets he prefers, the marshy ground in which he
+delights to wallow, and then as to the times he is likely to be seen,
+they can tell almost to a minute when he will pass,&mdash;for the wild boar
+is very methodical, and an excellent time-piece. The animal, therefore,
+having been traced, and his retreat carefully ascertained, a day is
+fixed, and each person having been assigned a separate post, remains
+watching for his appearance on his way to or from his haunt."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p><p>"Oh! of course, they merely watch and wait," replied Adolphe, with a
+hollow, unmeaning laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but you don't suppose that a boar will allow himself to be killed
+as easily as a squirrel. I fear, in spite of all your professions, you
+will find it not so agreeable a sport as shooting larks on the plain of
+St. Denis. The bristly fellow who comes trotting and grunting towards
+you, showing his teeth, stopping occasionally to sharpen them against
+the root of some old oak, is not generally in the best of humours; but
+you can, at any rate, reckon upon the great advantage,&mdash;the want of
+which you deprecate in partridge-shooting. For instance, you cannot fail
+to see him; you have notice of his coming; you are not taken off your
+guard, and they very seldom appear but one at a time. It is a combat
+face to face, and his, with two long prominent teeth, so unfortunate in
+a woman, and positively hideous in a boar, effectually warns you that it
+is well you should be prepared to receive him. But the excitement is
+grand; after the volley every one is at him with his knife, and, with
+the exception of a few inexperienced dogs, and a Parisian novice like
+yourself, who, of course, are occasionally put <i>hors de combat</i>, the
+affair ends gloriously.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> Yes, yes, I am beginning to think you are
+right, Adolphe; partridge-shooting and knocking over a timid hare is
+very cowardly sport."</p>
+
+<p>The <i>traqueurs</i> also, whom Adolphe catechised, in the hope of preserving
+his own skin entire at the same time, though they gave him all sorts of
+good advice, failed not to add to it, as people of their class generally
+do, a budget of most fearful histories and hair-breadth escapes&mdash;of
+horses and dogs ripped open, and men killed or gored; but that which put
+a finishing-stroke to Adolphe's courage, was the entrance of a friend of
+mine, who had himself been a sad sufferer in one of these adventures.
+Wounded, but not mortally, the boar had charged him before he could
+reload, tearing up with his tusk the inside of his thigh; and, as he lay
+insensible on the ground, gnawing one of his calves off before any one
+could come to his assistance. During the next two months death shook him
+by the hand in vain, for he had fortunately an excellent constitution;
+"And, though the proportions of his left leg," whispered I, "have been
+restored by a slice out of a friendly cork-tree, he is, as you see,
+quite recovered."</p>
+
+<p>"True enough!" said the new arrival, who had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> overheard the concluding
+remark, "and if you have any doubts, Sir, I will show you my leg;" but
+Adolphe, thoroughly convinced, declined the offer, and retired to his
+room for the night.</p>
+
+<p>The dawn was yet gray, when the court-yard of the Ch&acirc;teau d'Erveau
+presented a very animated appearance; horses, dogs, and beaters were
+walking up and down, neighing, yelping, and conversing,&mdash;the huntsman
+every now and then winding his horn, giving notice to the inmates that
+all was ready. The morning was superb, and as the party filed out of the
+yard, doffing their beavers to the ladies, who, screened behind their
+window-curtains, dared not return their salute, Adolphe was a little
+reassured. Long, however, before they reached their hunting-ground, his
+chivalrous feelings had so far forsaken him, that he had serious
+thoughts of returning, on the plea of indisposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you lag so far behind?" said I, riding up to him at this
+juncture, "why your nose is quite white. Nay, don't blush; braver men
+than you have felt far from comfortable the first time they went
+boar-hunting. You are afraid. Come, don't deny it; but, never mind, I
+will not quit you for a moment."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p><p>"With all my heart; for, though I cannot exactly say I am afraid, yet
+that infernal cork-leg is continually dancing before my eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least doubt of it; and, by Terpsichore! what a pretty
+thing it would be to see the handsome Gustave Adolphe de M&mdash;&mdash; dancing
+polkas and redowas in the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg St. Germain with
+a cork-leg or a gutta-percha calf! The very idea gives me the cramp in
+every toe."</p>
+
+<p>Conversing much in the same strain, the eight <i>chasseurs</i> arrived at the
+rendezvous, where they dismounted. The beaters and <i>gardes-de-chasse</i>
+were all at their posts, and on the alert to the movements of the boar,
+and as we advanced deeper in the forest, the conversation, which had
+been so lively on our setting forth, flagged, and at length subsided
+into an occasional remark on the obstacles which impeded our progress.
+Nothing renders a man more reserved than his approach to an anticipated
+danger. I looked askance at Adolphe, and saw that his teeth rattled like
+castanets; and when the foremost keepers, in doubt as to the track, blew
+a plaintive note, which, ere it died away, was answered by another in
+the distance, showing that we were in the right one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> Adolphe's
+breathing became stentorious behind me. And then as the branches and
+hazel twigs, through which we forced our way more rapidly, flew back and
+struck him in the face, he supplicated me to stop.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so fast, my dear friend, not so fast! Have mercy on my Parisian
+legs! Misericorde! I cannot proceed. Do stop! There, my nose is skinned
+by that last branch! Good&mdash;there, my breeches are breaking! For pity's
+sake, stop!" But to stop was impossible; and I remained silent, having
+quite enough to do looking out for myself. At length we arrived at the
+appointed spot. Adolphe, in a state bordering on the crazy, his clothes
+in shreds, his face and hands bleeding from the thorns, anger in his
+blood, and perspiration on his brow, his furious eyes looked at me as if
+I had been the author of his misfortunes. And here a scene would most
+undoubtedly have ensued, but happily the head <i>piqueur</i> arrived,
+informing us that the boar was in a thick patch of underwood, about two
+miles from thence, in which he was supposed to be taking his mid-day
+<i>siesta</i>, and that a number of peasants having headed him on one side,
+he could not well escape. Our measures were quickly taken.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p><p>"Serpolet," said I to the <i>piqueur</i>, "have you seen the animal?"</p>
+
+<p>"At a distance, Monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"What is he like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! a tremendous fellow&mdash;long legs, enormous head, large tusks, and
+such a muzzle!&mdash;he breaks through everything. A fortunate thing,
+Monsieur, the dogs were not with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Well!" said I to my father, "of course this gentleman is to have the
+place of honour."</p>
+
+<p>"The place of honour!" cried Adolphe, "which is the place of honour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the most dangerous to be sure," replied my father, "the third or
+fourth post from where he breaks cover. The first or second shots seldom
+kill him; wounded, he continues his course, and, savage and ferocious,
+generally turns upon the third or fourth <i>chasseur</i>, at whom, with
+lowered head and glaring eye, he charges in full career. Oh! it is then
+a splendid sight, worth all the journey from Paris! Forward, my lads,
+forward! Hurrah! for the boar!"</p>
+
+<p>"And thus&mdash;" groaned Adolphe, with thickened speech, not at all charmed
+with this description of his onset.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p>"And thus," remarked my father, with a bow of the old <i>r&eacute;gime</i>, "you
+shall be fourth, and you will see the sturdy grunter in all his beauty.
+Come, my boys! a glass of the cognac all round; then silence, and each
+to his post. Here, Serpolet, forward with them, and remember, gentlemen,
+the word of command is 'Prudence and coolness!' Off! and may your stout
+hearts protect you!"</p>
+
+<p>Then filing out from the glade where we had halted, each of us proceeded
+to his destination, the valiant Adolphe following Serpolet like a dog
+going to be drowned.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur," said Serpolet, "you don't seem used to this fun; let a
+graybeard and an old huntsman advise you. I have seen the
+animal&mdash;actually seen him&mdash;a terrible boar, I promise you, as black as
+ink, clean legs, and ears well apart,&mdash;all true signs of courage. As
+sure as my name is Serpolet, he will make mince-meat of us&mdash;sure to
+charge. Take my advice, Monsieur; never mind what the gentlemen say
+about waiting; don't you let him get nearer to you than five-and-twenty
+paces; if not, in three bounds he will be at you; and in another second
+you will be opened like an oyster. Take care, Monsieur!"&mdash;and, wishing
+him success, Serpolet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> joined the beaters, who were waiting, all ready
+to advance.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall we do?" said Adolphe as soon as he was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"Do, why, take a look about us."</p>
+
+<p>We were in a kind of low, open glade, about eighty paces in length, with
+an immense oak in the centre&mdash;a solitary spot, full of thick rushes,
+tufts of grass, brambles, and matted roots; in short, just the place
+that a boar would make his head-quarters. Adolphe accompanied me step by
+step, examined me from head to foot, and looked in my face as if he
+would read my every thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Adolphe," said I, after I had considered the principal points of
+our position, "the moment has at length arrived when you must draw your
+courage from the scabbard; and I hope it will shine like the light, for
+something tells me you will require it ere long."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you what; I beg you will not commence any of your long
+orations."</p>
+
+<p>"If I talk to you now, it is because I shall not be able in a few
+minutes. Pay attention, therefore, to my instructions. Remain, I advise
+you, behind this oak, then you will have nothing to fear, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> be sure
+not to leave it. I will place myself at the angle down yonder."</p>
+
+<p>"Down there! Why you said you would not leave me for an instant."</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, don't be absurd; the moments are precious; you see I shall
+only be distant an hundred yards."</p>
+
+<p>"An hundred yards! I tell you what&mdash;if you go ten yards, I go too."</p>
+
+<p>"What! are you afraid? We are alone; come, be frank."</p>
+
+<p>"No! I am not afraid, but my nerves are shaken; I am thoroughly done up
+with the scramble we have had through these woods; and then that rascal
+Serpolet, who prophesied that I shall be opened like an oyster&mdash;you
+shall not go, for I feel sure that when this brute of a boar makes his
+appearance, I shall be unable to look him in the face."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend, I will do as you desire. We have still half an hour to
+wait; but remember, no imprudence&mdash;and if you should see my finger
+raised, mind, not a word or a sign."</p>
+
+<p>As I uttered this apostrophe, a long and harmonious note from the
+head-keeper's horn, vibrating in the distance, came and died away upon
+our ears;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> after which, a confused clamour of voices arose, and as
+suddenly ceased.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah! hurrah!" said I; "the <i>traqueurs</i> are on the move, the curtain
+is raised, the play is about to commence&mdash;and, dear friend, be silent as
+death, for the actor will soon make his appearance on the stage."</p>
+
+<p>During the next ten minutes, a murmur of voices and confused sounds were
+again borne on the wind to the two sportsmen, announcing that the line
+of beaters was steadily advancing, and now they could distinctly hear
+them at intervals, striking the trunks of the trees with their long
+iron-shod poles, thrusting them in the underwood, and shouting in chorus
+the song of the boar.</p>
+
+<p>Again the horn is heard; but now its notes are sharp, shrill, jerking
+and hurried.</p>
+
+<p>"That, my good Adolphe, denotes that the boar has risen, has been driven
+from his lair, is in view, flying before the beaters, and I am very much
+mistaken if he does not ere long pay us a visit."</p>
+
+<p>Another blast is heard, but in very different tones to the last, and
+silence is again spread over the forest.</p>
+
+<p>"There, Adolphe&mdash;there's a joyous and melodious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> note; it tells me that
+the monster is following his usual paths&mdash;we are sure to see him soon.
+By St. Hubert, what lucky dogs we are!"</p>
+
+<p>But the Parisian answered not, and leaned against his oak, a perfect
+picture of despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Adolphe," I reiterated, "he won't be here yet, but speak low, or we may
+spoil everything. How do you feel? Do you think you can take good aim,
+and pull the trigger?"</p>
+
+<p>"I feel," whispered Adolphe, "that I am not cut out for boar-hunting."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! Why, the other day you seemed to think it would be delightful, and
+now you don't appear to like the sport; keep your heart up, be cool, and
+all will be well;&mdash;it is only on grand occasions&mdash;those when real danger
+presents itself, as you told me the other day&mdash;that the proofs of
+undoubted courage show themselves; and then the ladies of the Faubourg
+St. Germain that you were to soften with your tales of forest
+life&mdash;'Mademoiselles,' you were to commence, 'when I was in Le Morvan,
+we had famous wolf and boar-hunting, and on one occasion'"....</p>
+
+<p>"No! no!" groaned the Parisian, "I shall commence thus: On one occasion,
+nay, ladies, on all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> occasions, I much prefer being in your delightful
+society to that of the boars of Le Morvan."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, good Adolphe, you are laughing; why, you were to have the
+skin stuffed, the tusks gilt, the feet silver-mounted, and the tail was
+to be scarlet and curly. What! do you think no more about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes! and of the cork calves also."</p>
+
+<p>"Pooh! have we not two good hunting-knives and four iron bullets in the
+rifles, and a magnificent oak, a perfect wooden tower, for a
+breastwork."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! we have all this."</p>
+
+<p>"And is not courage your father, and an excellent aim your mother, and
+is not death to the boar in our barrels?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly!&mdash;death&mdash;oh! what a word at such a crisis!"&mdash;and on the
+instant two shots were heard, which made him jump again.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! ah!&mdash;good; that's the old gentleman who has led off the ball; the
+music of his rifle is not to be mistaken. The grisly vagabond has by
+this time two bits of iron in his flanks, which will considerably hasten
+his march. Silence! and be on the <i>qui vive</i>. Listen! Hear you not the
+distant crash in the bushes?" Two fresh shots were now fired, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+nearer. "Said I not so? he is running the gauntlet&mdash;one more shot. Hush
+again! there he is, tearing along. Hark! not a whisper; your eye on the
+open, your ear to the wind, and your finger on the trigger!" But it was
+not the boar; for at the moment two roebucks and a fox broke near us,
+bounding along at full speed, when Adolphe, his face as pale as his
+cambric shirt, muttered, as he nearly fell upon his knees&mdash;"Oh!
+Paris&mdash;oh! Chevet&mdash;oh! Boulevard des Italiens&mdash;I shall never see ye
+more!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Adolphe! what the deuce is the matter with you? in the name of
+France, be a man. If my time is to be taken up with looking after you, I
+shall be in a nice situation. No nonsense&mdash;no useless fears? Do you, or
+do you not feel able to take part in the approaching drama?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't&mdash;I only just feel able to get up this tree."</p>
+
+<p>"What! are you in such a funk as all that? Why, what a poor creature you
+must be! You are the very incarnation of fear!"</p>
+
+<p>"Fear? I have no fear. Who says that I have? I don't know how it is, but
+I certainly do feel something&mdash;a sort of qualm, something like
+sea-sickness&mdash;everything seems going round&mdash;no doubt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> a sudden
+indisposition&mdash;such a thing might happen to the bravest man&mdash;Napoleon,
+they say, was bilious at Borodino. We part for a few minutes only, dear
+friend; I shall ascend the oak&mdash;an English king once did the same."</p>
+
+<p>Another blast of the keeper's horn was now heard on the left.</p>
+
+<p>"What does that mean?" cried Adolphe, one leg in the air.</p>
+
+<p>"That signifies, the boar is making right for us."</p>
+
+<p>"Does it? Then I am up;" and, with the agility of a cat, he was in an
+instant safely lodged in the branches. "Ah! my friend! how different it
+feels up here&mdash;the sickness is quite gone off, hand me the gun."</p>
+
+<p>"In the name of Fortune," said I, "hold your coward tongue&mdash;here's the
+boar;" for I could now hear his snorting and loud breathing in the copse
+hard by.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you hear him?" said Adolphe from his perch, his cheeks as green as
+the leaves which covered him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hear him?" I exclaimed, "yes, I partly see him. What a monster! How he
+tears the ground!&mdash;how he bleeds and gnaws his burning wounds!&mdash;every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+hair of his back stands up, smoke and perspiration flow from his
+nostrils, and his eyes, glaring with agony and concentrated rage, look
+as if they would start from their sockets!"</p>
+
+<p>On came the beaters, and in a few minutes the panting beast burst from
+his thicket, and rushed across the open; my eye was on every movement,
+and, firing both barrels, the contents struck him full in front. It was
+his death-blow, but the vital principle was yet unsubdued; and,
+summoning up all his dying energies&mdash;those which despair alone can
+give&mdash;he came at me with a force that I could never have withstood.
+Fortunately the Parisian's gun was close to me, and the charge stopped
+him in full career. This was the <i>coup de gr&acirc;ce</i>. He still, however, by
+one grand effort, stood nobly on his haunches, opened his monstrous
+mouth, all red with blood, gave out one sharp deep groan of agony from
+his stifled lungs, and, falling upon his side, after many a wild
+convulsion, at length stretched his massive and exhausted frame slowly
+out in death.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah! Adolphe! you rascally acorn! shout, you <i>badaud</i>! give the
+death-whoop, and come down!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is he really dead?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>"Dead! Why, don't you see he is? Come down I say&mdash;come, descend from
+your Belvedere&mdash;the farce is played out, and your legs are all right.
+You are a rank coward! however, no one is aware of it but me. Don't let
+others see it!" and in a minute Adolphe was at my side.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen, you fire-eater! and I will make you a hero, though you could
+not manage to make yourself one. There were four shots fired; now, take
+your gun, and remember that the two first, those ghastly holes in the
+chest, were your handiwork&mdash;do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but what a horrible morning! what a brute! what a savage country!"</p>
+
+<p>"True, it is not like the Boulevard des Italiens;" and a few minutes
+after, Adolphe received, with some confusion, attributed to modesty, the
+congratulations of all the party. This diffidence, as it may be
+imagined, did not last long; his assurance soon returned, and the
+hurrahs had scarcely died away, before he had imagined and given a very
+graphic description of the last moments of the gallant boar. His toilet
+made, the monstrous carcass was placed upon a litter, hastily
+constructed with the branches of a tree, and the peasants, hoisting it
+on their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> shoulders, bore the deceased monarch of the woods in triumph
+to the chateau.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening, Adolphe's self-satisfaction was completed by an ovation
+from the ladies, who bestowed upon him the most flattering epithets.
+From the prettiest lips I heard, "What! this Parisian! this pale and
+slender young man, with such delicate hands and rose-coloured nails,
+fought face to face with this terrible beast? Admirable! And he was not
+frightened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Frightened, ladies," said I, "why he was smoking a cigar all the time!"
+And the secret was so well kept, and Adolphe so bepraised, that I am
+sure had I felt disposed to throw a doubt upon the circumstances, he
+would have stoutly contended that he really did kill the animal himself;
+and, to say the truth, he was to a certain extent authorized to say so,
+for the head, handsomely decorated, was sent to his mother, the
+following words having been nicely printed on the tusks:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="noin">"Killed by Gustave Adolphe de M. the 15th of August, 18&mdash;." </p></div>
+
+<p>In the course of time Adolphe's nerves improved so much that he could
+manage to knock down a leash of birds, or roll over a hare; but boars
+and wolves he declined to have anything further to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> with; and when I
+met him by accident some years after, in the presence of mutual friends,
+he said, "Ah! de Crignelle, what two famous shots those were I put into
+that boar! But, gentlemen," he continued, with a sigh which seemed
+pumped up from his very heels, "what terrible forests those are of Le
+Morvan, and how dangerous the <i>chasse aux sangliers</i>!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The <i>Mares</i>&mdash;Manner in which they are formed in the depths of the
+forest&mdash;<i>Mare</i> No. 1.&mdash;Description of it&mdash;The appearance of the
+spot&mdash;Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge&mdash;Approach of the
+birds&mdash;Animals that frequent the <i>Mares</i> in the evening. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Of</span> all the various sports of Europe, that which produces the greatest
+excitement, that which is, more than any other, full of deep interest,
+dangerous and difficult, is without doubt hut-shooting at night on the
+banks of one of our large <i>Mares</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Here the sportsman, left to
+himself, is deprived of all help; concealed in a corner of a wood, or
+squatting at the foot of a tree, he requires all his courage, all his
+experience; for he then finds himself engaged in a deadly conflict with
+the most subtle and ferocious beasts, possibly a mouthful for the
+largest and most powerful jaws, and at the mercy of the quickest ears of
+the forest. Motionless in his hut, like a spider in its web, nothing can
+put him off his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> guard&mdash;neither the view halloo of the passing huntsman,
+the cheerful notes of his horn, nor the music of the dogs, can distract
+his attention. All around is calm, solitude and gloom surround him, no
+voice interrogates him, no eye sees him; he is alone, quite alone, his
+blood circulates tranquilly through his veins, his faculties are all on
+the stretch, he waits, he bides his time. The shadows lengthen, twilight
+arrives, the forest puts on the garb of evening, the silence and
+solitude are more deeply felt, night is at hand, the moment so ardently
+desired approaches. Imagination begins to work, phantoms of every
+description come across his brain, and glide before his eyes, he hears,
+and fancies he sees the sylvan spirits dancing before him; his ears are
+full of mysterious and unearthly sounds, plaintive and melancholy,
+celestial harmonies, fairy melodies of another world, interrupted
+conversations between the winds, the trees, the herbage and the earth,
+as if they were offering homage to the great Creator of the universe.</p>
+
+<p>Firm at his post, and uninfluenced by this phantasmagoria of the brain,
+without movement and almost without breath, the sportsman waits
+hopefully; for the greatest virtue in this kind of sport is patience,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+the second courage, first-rate&mdash;his heart should be of marble, his flesh
+of steel, and his members should possess a power of immobility as great
+as that of a sphynx in an Egyptian temple. Yes! the sport <i>aux mares</i> is
+the most stirring, the roughest that I am acquainted with, not so much
+on account of the real danger attending it, but in consequence of those
+fictitious, unknown, and imaginary, produced by the silence and
+loneliness of the forest. It is my intention, therefore, in describing
+this kind of sport, to enter into the most ample details, in order that
+I may make myself thoroughly understood. I shall take, as representing
+very nearly all the pieces of water to be met with in the forest, three
+kinds of <i>Mares</i> of different dimensions. I shall explain their
+position, the relative value they possess in the eyes of the sportsman,
+the game, large and small, to be found on their banks, and the most
+propitious time for approaching them, and I shall endeavour, if
+possible, to impress my readers with the pleasures and adventures which
+have on several occasions agitated me.</p>
+
+<p>If the woods and forests of Le Morvan, which, by the clouds they
+attract, the thunder-storms that continually fall over them, and the
+moisture that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> generally prevails, feed a great many streams, the
+district is not the less deprived, by its elevated position, of large
+rivers and extensive sheets of water; for the rains, falling down the
+sides of the trees, and penetrating the thick mossy grass at their
+roots, do not remain for any length of time on the surface of the earth.
+The whole forest may, in fact, be described as a large sponge, through
+which the water filters, descending to the inferior strata, where it
+finds the secret drains of Nature, and is by them conducted into the
+plains. The roots being thus continually watered, the trees are fresh
+and vigorous in their growth, and produce a most luxuriant foliage; the
+ground itself, however, is generally dry under foot, and in some places
+rocky.</p>
+
+<p>It is therefore very rare, quite an exceptional case, to find on the
+elevated heaths, or in our forests, any lakes or large pieces of water;
+nevertheless they are to be seen here and there, and then the cottage of
+the peasant, or the hut of the wood-*cutter is sure to raise its modest
+head on their banks; in time these humble edifices are augmented in
+number till they sometimes become a considerable village. If the spring,
+once a silvery thread, and now a brawling rivulet, changes its character
+to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> deep and considerable stream, farm-houses, a chateau, or a
+hunting-box are soon erected near it. If it is merely a tiny source
+rising from the earth, or springing from some isolated rock, and soon
+lost in the moss, without even a murmur, calm and silent, as the life of
+the lowly peasant, which is slowly consumed in the scarcely varying path
+of labour,&mdash;then no one takes the least notice of it.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, however, the tears which the earth thus sheds, this crystal
+thread, scorned by the unobserving passer-by, is arrested in its timid
+course by some trifling obstacle&mdash;a rising path, a fallen branch or
+tree. This little streamlet swells, frets the immediate spot of ground,
+imperceptibly increases in size, and becomes after many efforts, the
+patient work of months and years, something like the basin of a large
+<i>jet d'eau</i>, a liquid cup lost in the recesses of the woods, reflecting
+only a very small portion of the blue heavens above; unknown to man, but
+always frequented by thousands of delighted and happy insects, and
+little birds that come there in the great heats of summer to refresh
+themselves, to skim across the surface, and sip, with head uplifted
+towards heaven, its pellucid waters. These little springs, lost in the
+thickness of the mossy turf and the dead leaves, like a gray hair<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> in
+the dark tresses of some village beauty, which accident or a lover could
+alone discover, when thus interrupted and formed into a bowl of water,
+such as I have described, is called a <i>Mare</i>.</p>
+
+<p>If, therefore, the sportsman in traversing the depths of the forest
+should chance to discover one of these mirrors of the passing butterfly,
+of the flower which inclines its slender form towards it, or of the bird
+that sings and plays in the branches that overspread its surface, he
+must not look contemptuously upon it, for this little liquid pearl, thus
+concealed in the shade, which the hot rays of the sun would dry up like
+an Arabian well, if they could reach it, may prove to him a mine of
+varied reflections&mdash;a page of nature's great book, and in it he may
+possibly find, if he have an observing eye and an understanding heart, a
+type of this lower world, with all its hateful passions, its follies and
+virtues, its wars, rivalries, injustice and oppression.</p>
+
+<p>One day, when out shooting, and following by tortuous paths, to me
+unknown, the bleeding traces of a roebuck which I had wounded, I had the
+good fortune to meet with one of these <i>Mares</i>. The piece of water of
+which I thus became what I may term the proprietor, was from fifty to
+sixty feet in circumference, though at the first glance I fancied it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+was only half the size, so completely was it covered near the side by
+thorns and briars, and in the centre by lilies, flags, and other aquatic
+plants. By certain other signs, also, the gigantic creepers, and the
+barkless and headless trees, bending and falling with age; by the deep
+thickets that surrounded it, and by the solitary aspect of the pool, I
+felt convinced that mine was the first footstep that had trodden its
+precincts,&mdash;that I was the Christopher Columbus of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Enchanted with my discovery, I determined to mark the spot, for I
+thought it a <i>Mare</i> of peculiar beauty. It was almost surrounded by wild
+fruit trees, which grow in great numbers in our forests: here were the
+sorb, or service tree, and the medlar, bending to the ground under the
+weight of their luxuriant fruit; intermingled with these waved the lofty
+and slender branches of the wild cherry, the berries of which, now ripe,
+and sweet as drops of honey, and black as polished jet, offered a
+delicious repast to clouds of little birds, that hopped chirruping from
+twig to twig: and lastly, I may mention a fine arbutus, which in its
+turn presented a tempting collation to the notice of many a hungry
+bullfinch. The soft turf around was strewed with the shining black and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+bright red berries, which the last breeze had shaken from the verdant
+branches.</p>
+
+<p>To describe the crystal notes, the liquid cadences, the merry songs of
+the feathered inhabitants of this hive, that pursued one another
+rejoicing amongst the leaves, is impossible. Besides, my unexpected
+appearance threw them into perfect consternation; and this greatly
+increased when, drawing from my side my hunting-knife, I began to cut
+down, in all directions, the bushes which intercepted a nearer approach
+to the miniature lake.</p>
+
+<p>The storm of helpless anger, menaces, and complaints from these little
+creatures was quite curious. "Oh! the wretch!" a cuckoo seemed to say;
+"what does he mean by coming here, showing us his ugly face?"&mdash;"Oh! the
+horror," cried a coquette of a tomtit, holding up her little
+claw.&mdash;"<i>H&eacute;las! h&eacute;las!</i> our poor trees, our beautiful leaves, and our
+lovely greensward&mdash;see how he is cutting away&mdash;Oh! the wicked man! the
+destructive rascal!" they all piped in chorus. But I paid no attention
+to them, and went on hacking away, and whistling like one of the
+blackbirds. This indeed I continued to do for several days, working like
+a woodman, and all alone, for I did not wish to associate myself with
+any person, lest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> he should claim a share in my discovery; but it was
+long before I began to enjoy the fruits of my hard labour. The trunks
+were sawn, the branches lopped, and after considerable trouble I at last
+cleared my piece of water from the bushes and parasitic plants which
+blocked it up. The evening breeze now circulated rapidly over it, and
+the sun could look in upon it for at least two hours of the day.</p>
+
+<p>My friends who saw me leave the house every morning with a basket of
+tools at my back and a hatchet at my side, like Robinson Crusoe, and who
+witnessed my return each evening heartily tired, with torn clothes,
+scratched hands, and dust and perspiration on my face, without a single
+head of game in my bag, could not comprehend why I went out thus alone
+into the forest, and remained there the livelong day. Often did they
+persecute me with questions, and try in every way to penetrate the
+mystery; all in vain, my whereabouts remained hidden like a hedgehog in
+his prickly coat, and I managed matters so well that during two
+successive years I was the unknown proprietor and Grand Sultan of my
+much-loved <i>Mare</i>.</p>
+
+<p>But when my task was finished, a task that hundreds of birds, perched in
+the oaks, the elms, and the adjoining thickets, viewed with mingled
+feelings of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> approbation, disapprobation, curiosity, or interest,&mdash;when
+the last stroke of my hatchet was given, I said to myself, while looking
+on the result of my unremitting toil, "'Tis well, and what a change has
+taken place in this little corner of the forest. In truth, it looks
+superb."</p>
+
+<p>The little lake was now a perfect oval, and the water, not very deep,
+but limpid as crystal, was full of green and coloured rushes&mdash;the
+surface being partly covered by the white and rose-tinted flowers of the
+water-lilies, which reposing delicately on their large flat green
+leaves, looked like velvet camellias placed upon a plate of sea-green
+porcelain. In the mossy turf which bordered it, beds of violets, pink
+daisies, and lilies of the valley, sent forth a cloud of perfume, and on
+the large forest trees hung festoons and garlands of the honeysuckle and
+the clematis; so that the <i>Mare</i> and the surrounding foliage, would,
+seen from above, have appeared like a large well with leafy walls, or an
+immense emerald, which some spirit of the air, returning from a marriage
+of the gods, had inadvertently dropped on his way home.</p>
+
+<p>Having given a description of the lake, I must describe my picturesque
+and sylvan hut. This, constructed of trunks of trees, branches and
+osiers, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> placed about twenty paces from the water, completely
+concealed by the bushes that encircled it; the inside was fitted up in
+rustic taste with seats of wood, the whole carpeted with turf, and the
+entrance planted with every kind of odoriferous flower.</p>
+
+<p>This <i>Mare</i>, approached by marks known only to myself, became
+thenceforward the source of all my pleasures. At that period very young,
+and equally careless, I would not have parted with my large liquid
+<i>tazza</i>, my little lake, my leafy castle, for all the vulgar comfortable
+<i>chate&acirc;ux</i> in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>If I have lingered too much over this subject, the reader must forgive
+me for elaborating this picture&mdash;this portrait I may call it of my
+<i>Mare</i>. He has before him a type of all the others, and this again must
+be my excuse, it is so dear to the unfortunate to stir the still warm
+embers of by-gone memories,&mdash;so dear to rouse from their slumbers the
+treasured recollections of early days,&mdash;to wake those sweet spirits of
+the mind, those phantoms robed in azure blue, and decked with the
+pearls, the joys which never can glide again across the dreamer's
+path&mdash;the joys of youth.</p>
+
+<p>Oh <i>souvenirs</i> of childhood!&mdash;of happy hours so quickly gone,&mdash;bright
+visions that gild, yes, light the darkest clouds of after years,
+blessed, blessed are ye!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Alone, friendless, far from those I love, with
+the heart steeped, drowned in sorrow, a sombre sky before my eyes,
+wintry clouds, that distil but melancholy thoughts all around me,&mdash;well,
+I, the poor sparrow, who has been cast from his nest by the raging
+storm,&mdash;I hush my griefs to rest in tracing the picture of past
+delights. Yes, memory comes to my relief; I build again in the casket of
+the mind my sylvan hut, careless and full of youthful fancies. I am
+again seated in the depths of my native woods, speaking to the
+light-hearted thrush, and whistling to the breeze.</p>
+
+<p>Once more I bathe myself in the golden rays of the mid-day sun; I tread
+again the forest paths, and am intoxicated with the delicious perfume of
+its wild flowers. Hark! again I hear the cooing of the amorous doves,
+and in the distance the notes of the dull cuckoo, bewailing his solitary
+life.&mdash;But no more....</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Mares</i>, very different from one another, and having each of them
+very different admirers, are of three kinds; they are either small or
+large, near or distant from the village or neighbouring hamlet; and
+according as they are circumstanced in one or other of these respects
+they are more or less valuable. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> largest, the deepest, the least
+known, those in short that are situated in the recesses of the forest,
+are the best and most frequented by game; to balance this advantage they
+are the most fatiguing and the most difficult to approach.</p>
+
+<p>In the violent heats of July and August, when the sun burns up the
+herbage, when the wind as it passes parches the skin, and the sultry air
+scarcely allows the lungs to play&mdash;when the earth is quite dried up&mdash;the
+hot-blooded animals, whose circulation is rapid, remain completely
+overpowered with the heat in their retreats all day, either stretched
+panting on the leaves, or lurking in the shade of some rock; but the
+moment the sun, in amber clouds, sinks below the horizon, and twilight
+brings in his train the dark hours of night, and its humid vapours, the
+beasts of the forest are again in movement, again their ravenous
+appetite returns, and they lose no time in ranging the woods, seeking
+how and where they may gratify it. Then it is these large <i>Mares</i>,
+silent as a woman that listens at a keyhole&mdash;silent as a catacomb, is
+all at once endowed with life,&mdash;is filled with strange noises, like an
+aviary, and becomes, as night falls, a common centre to which the hungry
+and thirsty cavalcade direct their steps.</p>
+
+<p>The first arrivals are hundreds of birds, of every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> size and colour, who
+come to gossip, to bathe, to drink, and splash the water with their
+wings. Next come troops of hares and rabbits, who come to nibble the
+fresh grass that grows there in great luxuriance. As the shades grow
+deeper, groups of the graceful roebuck, timid and listening for
+anticipated danger, their large open eyes gazing at each tree, giving an
+inquiring look at every shadow, are seen approaching with noiseless
+footsteps; when reassured by their careful <i>reconnaissance</i>, they steal
+forward, cropping the dewy rich flowers as they come, and at last slake
+their thirst in the refreshing waters.</p>
+
+<p>At this instant you may, if you are fatigued, and so desire it, finish
+your day's sport. You may bring down the nearest buck; and then as the
+troop, wild with affright, make for the forest, the second barrel will
+add a fellow to your first victim.</p>
+
+<p>But, no! pull not the trigger; stop, if only to witness what follows.
+See the roebuck prick their ears; they turn to the wind; they appear
+uneasy; call one to the other, assemble; danger is near, they feel it,
+hear it coming; they would fly, but find it is too late; terrified, they
+are chained to the spot. For the last half hour the wolves and
+wolverines, which followed gently, and at a distance, their own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> more
+rapid movements, have closed in upon them from behind, have formed the
+fatal circle, have noiselessly decreased it as much as possible, and at
+length come swiftly down upon the helpless creatures; each seizes his
+victim by the throat, the tranquil spot is ere long full of blood and
+carnage, and the echoes of the forest are awakened to the hellish yells
+of the savage brutes that thus devour their prey.</p>
+
+<p>The cries of agony, of death and victory, sometimes last for a quarter
+of an hour; and during the fifteen minutes that you are watching the
+scene from your hut, you may fancy the teeth of these brutes are meeting
+in your own flesh, and feel a cold paw with claws of steel deep in your
+back or head.</p>
+
+<p>The slaughter over, these monsters pass like a flight of demons across
+the turf, vanish,&mdash;and again all is silent. And when the tenth chime of
+the distant village clock is floating on the breeze, though it reaches
+not your cabin&mdash;when the falling dew, now almost a shower, has bathed
+the leaves, with rain chilling their fibres&mdash;when the bluebells and the
+foxgloves and all the wood-flowers rest upon their stems&mdash;when the
+songsters of the grove, with heads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> comfortably tucked under their warm
+wings, sleep soundly in their nests, or in the angles of the
+branches&mdash;when the young fawns, lost in some wild ravine, bleat for
+their mothers whom they never will see more; and the gorged wolves,
+their muzzles red with blood, are stretched snoring in their dens and
+lurking-places&mdash;then it is the heavy boars, shaking off their laziness,
+leave their sombre retreats&mdash;take to the open country, and trotting,
+grunting, and with hesitating footsteps, come and plunge their awkward
+and heavy bodies in the marshy waters, and wallow in the soft mud.<br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Query,&mdash;fox-hunting and stag-hunting.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Translator.</span></p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Appearance of the <i>Mare</i> in the morning&mdash;Forest etiquette&mdash;Mode of
+obtaining possession of the best <i>Mare</i>&mdash;Every subterfuge fair&mdash;The
+jocose sportsman&mdash;The quarrel&mdash;Reveries in the hut&mdash;Comparison
+between meeting a lady and watching for a wolf. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Mares</i> on the borders of which these scenes of strife and carnage
+take place, are found by the morning sun surrounded by a crimson circle,
+and all the horrid details of the battle-field&mdash;proof that the weak have
+been slaughtered and overcome by the strong; a humiliating sight! for
+the desolation created by the bad passions of man is far too like it.
+Sometimes these <i>Mares</i> are from two to three hundred feet in
+circumference, and these may be truly termed the diamonds of the forest.
+The <i>Mare</i> No. 1., fed by small but always flowing springs, is full,
+when others are dried up, and is frequented by troops of animals, savage
+and meek, which thirst and heat drive there from all points of the
+compass. These <i>Mares</i>, but little known, few in number, much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> sought
+after&mdash;become, more especially at the period of the dog-days, very
+difficult to find. Considered always as the property of the first comer,
+the poacher, who is better acquainted than any other sportsman with the
+localities in which they are to be found, generally takes up his
+quarters near them late at night, and installs himself; sleeps there,
+sups there, and, determined not to leave it under any pretext, laughs in
+the face of the unfortunate wight who arrives after him, in the happy
+delusion that he has anticipated every one else. For it is a forest law,
+and acknowledged by all, that two sportsmen cannot, without disturbing
+one another, sit down at the same <i>Mare</i>; possession is in this not only
+nine but ten points of the law; and, if a mere lad, with a
+fowling-piece, happens to place himself first on its banks, no giant
+seven feet high would think of using his superior strength to expel him.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the law&mdash;such is the custom&mdash;to act in defiance of it would
+expose the culprit to the chance of receiving a charge of No. 3 in his
+jacket; and as each <i>Mare</i> has its wooden hut, in successive summers,
+constructed by you, embellished by me, knocked in, cut about, injured by
+some one else, and repaired by all&mdash;the first man who puts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> the stock of
+his gun on the floor of the cabin becomes immediately and incontestibly
+the lucky proprietor of it for that night.</p>
+
+<p>And how shall I explain to you the thousand cunning tricks, the
+diabolical, the ingenious finesses, the Philipistic and Machiavellian
+diplomacy, which sportsmen employ one towards the other to obtain
+possession? Two friends, for instance, meet by accident on the same
+road; with what perfect and impudent lies do they entertain each
+other!&mdash;with what gusto do they try and take one another in!&mdash;what
+cheating doubts do they not mutually endeavour to raise, in their desire
+to induce each other to take the wrong road! With the effrontery of a
+<i>diplomate</i>, with the assurance of a secretary of legation,&mdash;one
+affirms, his hand on his heart, and looking towards heaven, that he is
+going to the left, when it is his positive intention, well-considered
+beforehand, to go to the right. No, France and England, Bresson and
+Bulwer, playing their game of chess of the Spanish marriages on the
+green cloth of political rascality,&mdash;never said anything comparable to
+the devices of these lying chevaliers of the forest.</p>
+
+<p>Everything is permitted&mdash;every stratagem is fair,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> so long as either is
+endeavouring to triumph over his adversary; and then, when they have
+gone so far as to be able to wish one another good afternoon, and each
+has convinced himself that he has put the other on the wrong road&mdash;that,
+thank the stars, his rival is off, that he is far off, that he cannot
+see him&mdash;what haste! what strides and leaps to get speedily to the spot,
+and make himself safe! The running of the celebrated Greek, who, with
+his breast laid open by a ghastly wound, ran eighty miles in ten hours
+to announce to the impatient Athenians the victory of Marathon, was the
+pace of a tortoise compared with the demon-racing of these <i>chasseurs</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And, after all this anxiety and rapid locomotion,&mdash;after turning and
+winding in and out of the wood, and round the wood to avoid the
+open&mdash;across the brook to avoid the bridge&mdash;through the brambles and
+thick underwood to avoid the open path&mdash;when you think you have cheated,
+or, at any rate, distanced your enemy,&mdash;when you perceive in front of
+you the object of your hopes,&mdash;the well-known and much-desired hut which
+seems to invite you to repose after your long day's walk&mdash;why, at that
+interesting moment, even your own, your very own brother would be a
+veritable Bedouin in your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> eyes, a man to be put out of the way any how,
+if he attempted to stop you.</p>
+
+<p>At such a crisis, if a real sportsman were to hear that his house was on
+fire, that his banker was off to America, taking with him his wife and
+his money, he would not, I say, in such a moment turn his head round to
+see which way they went;&mdash;Imagine, then, when in order to succeed you
+have made yourself out a cheat of the first water, and employed every
+possible subterfuge,&mdash;conceive what would be the extent of your anger
+and indignation, what your disgust,&mdash;when on arriving at your coveted
+<i>Mare</i>, at your oasis, at your paradise, at the spot for which you have
+toiled and invented such lies, to find the hut&mdash;occupied!</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes you may find in the possessor a <i>chasseur</i>, who likes to amuse
+himself at your expense,&mdash;a jocose fellow, who, hearing you at a
+distance working your way through the underwood, and seeing you through
+the leaves advancing with eager and rapid steps to the spot, conceals
+himself behind the entrance, and as you are just on the point of
+entering the hut, your foot just on the step, the droll sportsman puts
+his ugly head out of the window, as a yellow tortoise would his out of
+his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> shell, asking you, in most polite terms, what o'clock it is; or if
+it should chance to be raining a deluge at the time, remark in
+compassionate accents, "Why, sir, you seem rather damp!"</p>
+
+<p>Job was never so unfortunate as to arrive at a <i>Mare</i> already occupied;
+had he done so, it is not by any means clear to me that he would have
+been able to contain his wrath. For my own part, I have frequently been
+beside myself with vexation, and on one occasion was very nearly having
+a quarrel to the death with my best friend. We had accidentally met in
+the forest, as described, and had deceived each other, as two Greeks of
+Pera would, when making a bargain. After our <i>rencontre</i>, my friend went
+to the right, I to the left; he on the sly, turning and twisting by
+footpath and wood to conceal himself from observation; I, on the
+contrary, went directly to the spot, and striding away as fast as I
+could go, arrived at the <i>Mare</i> about three minutes before him, scarlet
+and streaming with exertion, and quite out of breath. My friend who was
+equally heated, but, in addition, disappointed and in a furious rage,
+addressed me in most insulting language, declaring between the hiccup,
+which his want of breath and want of coolness had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> produced, that I was
+a Jesuit, a hypocrite; and many other affectionate epithets did he apply
+to me with the utmost volubility.</p>
+
+<p>If I had not been the fortunate occupant of the hut, which gratifying
+fact was as honey to my lips and oil to my bones, and had a most
+soothing influence on my temper, I should naturally have revolted at
+such conduct; but this constrained me, and I remained perfectly quiet,
+determined to allow my lungs to regain their composure before I replied.
+Seeing this, his rage increased tenfold, and he proposed a duel with our
+fowling-pieces, hunting-knives, or two large sticks; he offered me,
+also, an aquatic duel of a most novel character,&mdash;namely, for both of us
+to undress and endeavour to drown each other in the <i>Mare</i>! In short, he
+continued for at least a quarter of an hour to rave and rail without
+ceasing.</p>
+
+<p>But of all this abuse I took not the slightest notice, remaining
+perfectly calm, sitting in my hut like Solomon on his throne, and
+fanning my heated countenance with the brim of my broad hat, as if I had
+been in a glass-house. It is true I laughed in my sleeve, looked
+vacantly at the blue heavens, and whistled the chorus or snatches of a
+hunting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> song. Finding therefore, it was impossible to move me, my
+adversary finished by getting tired of roaring and abusing; and having
+rubbed the perspiration from his distorted face with a force which
+seemed as if he would rub his nose off, he turned on his heel with the
+grace of a wild boar that had received a brace of balls in his
+haunches,&mdash;looking me fiercely in the face, and pouring forth as a last
+broadside, a dozen of oaths in the true <i>argot</i> style, which seemed to
+dry up the very plants near him, and silenced the frogs that were
+croaking in the <i>Mare</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Such, however, is the force of habit and of this rule; and so truly does
+every one feel that on the strict observance of it depends the
+tranquillity of all, that the law of first possession is never violated;
+although it is but simply acknowledged by the justice and good sense of
+every sportsman, it is quite as well established in their manners and
+customs as if it were written on tables of iron. The consequence is,
+that however enraged a person may be, he sees, and generally at the
+outset, that his best course is to give way; he may fume and strut, look
+big and villify, but he bows his head and is off with as embarrassed a
+face as yours, gentle reader,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> would certainly be, if a friend whom you
+knew to be ruined came and asked you to lend him twenty thousand francs.</p>
+
+<p>But also, by St. Hubert, if you remain the lord and master of this
+<i>Mare</i>, how your heart leaps, how all fatigue is forgotten! and when the
+twilight approaches, what a fever there is in your veins!&mdash;what anxiety!
+I have heard of the delirious and suffocating emotions of a lover
+waiting for his mistress at the rendezvous. Fiddlesticks! I say, gruel
+and iced-water. The most volcanic Romeo that ever penned a letter or
+scaled a wall, is to the sportsman waiting amidst the howling storm on a
+dark night for the wolves, what a cup of cream is to a bottle of
+vitriol. As for myself, I would give,&mdash;yes, ladies, I am wolf enough to
+say,&mdash;that I would willingly give up the delightful emotions of ninety
+rendezvous, with the loveliest women in the world, black or white, for
+twelve with a boar or a wolf. In return for this bad taste, I shall
+probably be devoured some day or other,&mdash;a fate no doubt duly merited.</p>
+
+<p>I will suppose, therefore, that the sportsman is squatting quietly in
+his hut, like a serpent in a bush. With what ardour and nervous anxiety
+does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> he not await the propitious and long-expected hour! He throws open
+the ivory doors of his castle in the air,&mdash;his hopes are multiplied a
+thousandfold. What shall I shoot?&mdash;what shall I not shoot? Will it be a
+she-wolf, or a roebuck? No, I prefer a boar. Will he be a large one? But
+if by chance I should kill a sow?&mdash;what a capital affair that would be;
+the young ones never leave their mother; perhaps I should bag three or
+four,&mdash;perhaps the whole fare. But then, how shall I carry them off?
+Perhaps the wolves will save me the difficulty of contriving that, and
+dispute my title to them,&mdash;perhaps they will attack me, eat me, the sow,
+the pigs, and my sealskin cap.</p>
+
+<p>How, I beseech you, is the following <i>monologue</i> to stand comparison
+with the fierce excitement of such anticipations? Will she come this
+evening, the darling&mdash;will my sweetest be able to come?&mdash;shall I be
+blessed with one kiss?&mdash;shall it be on the left cheek or the right, or
+shall I press her lips to mine? Bah! there can be no comparison in the
+hunter's mind; and then you barricade yourself in your hut as evening
+approaches, strengthen the weak points, study the best positions, look
+to your arms; the day seems as if it would never close,&mdash;nothing is
+left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> for you to do but to muse in the interval, and think of the poor
+maudlin lovers, who at this very hour are squatting under a wall like so
+many young apes; or of him who, half concealed, stands on the watch at
+the angle of a dirty street, waiting with a fluttering heart the arrival
+of some sentimental little chit of a girl, who is nevertheless coquette
+enough to keep him waiting for half an hour. And again, with what
+disdain and contempt you regard such birds as pigeons, turtle-doves,
+buzzards, wild duck, and teal; hares and foxes, too, which make their
+appearance from time to time,&mdash;to kill these never enters your head.</p>
+
+<p>What, not the fox, with his splendid bushy tail?</p>
+
+<p>Why what do you take me for, good reader?&mdash;what can I possibly want with
+that?&mdash;I, who am about to knock over two roebucks and three wolves?
+Peace, peace, my friends; skip and skuttle about, young rabbits; nibble
+away, middle-aged hares,&mdash;don't put yourselves the least out of the way,
+you won't have any of my powder. Besides, to fire would be very
+imprudent, and to a great extent compromise the sport; for at this
+period the sun is sinking, the shadows are slowly lengthening, the
+roebuck are on their way, and the she wolf in the neighbouring thicket
+is raising her head and listening for the sounds which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> indicate that
+her prey is not far off. And you listen also to catch the slightest
+noise that comes on the wind,&mdash;for each and all are a vocabulary to the
+huntsman,&mdash;a gust of wind, the note of a bird disturbed, a weasel
+running across the path, a squirrel gnawing the bark, a breaking branch,
+startles you, circulates your blood, and puts you anxiously alive to
+what may follow. Everything that surrounds you at this still tour of
+twilight courts your attention,&mdash;the waving branches speak to you,&mdash;the
+hazel thicket, bending to the weight of some advancing animal, puts you
+on your guard; the heart beats, not for the rustling of a silk gown, nor
+for the hurried footfall of woman treading with fairy lightness on the
+fallen leaves. The syren voice is not about to whisper softly in your
+ear, "Are you there, violet of my heart!" nor are you about to reply,
+"Angelic being, moss-rose of my soul, let me press your sweet lips?"
+What you are waiting for are the wild beasts of the forest,&mdash;you are
+listening for their distant and subdued tones, their bounding spring,
+their near approach, their bodies as a mark for your rifle, their yells,
+and cries, and death agony for your triumph.</p>
+
+<p>Then the inexplicable charms of danger excite the sportsman's feelings;
+his physical faculties, like those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> of the Indian, are doubled; he
+grasps his rifle with a firmer clutch, and looks down the blade of his
+hunting-knife with anxiety and yet with satisfaction. It grows dark, but
+his eyes pierce the gloom&mdash;his life is at stake, but he forgets that it
+is so; for the love of the chase, the wild pleasures of the huntsman,
+have taken possession of his soul. Breathless, his heart thumping
+against his chest, as if it would break its bounds, he listens, the
+cloudy curtain rises, and with it the moon; the roebucks are heard in
+the distance, then the stealthy steps of the wolves, afterwards the rush
+of the boar: and now, gentlemen, the tragedy is about to
+commence&mdash;choose your victims.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang"><i>Mare</i> No. 2.&mdash;Description of it&mdash;Not sought after by the sportsman&mdash;The
+sick banker&mdash;The doctor's prescription&mdash;The patient's disgust at it&mdash;Is
+at length obliged to yield&mdash;Leaves Paris for Le Morvan&mdash;Consequences to
+the inmates of the ch&acirc;teau&mdash;The banker convalescent.</p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">If</span> the great <i>Mares</i> No. 1, situated in the dark and silent depths of
+the forest, far from every habitation, and where you find you are left
+as much to yourself as the poor shipwrecked sailor supporting his
+exhausted frame upon a single plank on the angry billows, are so
+attractive, and so much coveted, though dangerous and difficult to
+secure, the same cannot be said of those which lie in the vicinity of a
+village, and which I shall call <i>Mare</i> No. 2.</p>
+
+<p>These last are to be met with easily enough; but being so very readily
+discovered, it is therefore rare to find near them the larger
+descriptions of game,&mdash;though the sportsman may see a few thrushes, some
+dozen of water-wagtails, and flocks of little impudent chaffinches,
+greenfinches, &amp;c., which come there to imbibe, hopping from stone to
+stone, and singing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> the willows; beyond these he will see nothing
+worth the cap on the nipple of his gun. Nevertheless to him who is
+without experience,&mdash;to the hunter who cannot read the language of the
+forest on the bark of the trees, on the freshly trodden ground, or the
+bent grass and broken flowers,&mdash;these pieces of water seem quite as
+beautiful and well situated, indeed quite as desirable, as the others.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps such an ignoramus might prefer them; for they are always more
+open, more free from weeds, rushes and flags, and less dark; and at the
+hour of <i>la chasse au poste</i>, the hour of twilight, they are as solitary
+as the <i>Mare</i> No. 1. But the savage beasts of the forest are not to be
+deceived; their instinct tells them that at a quarter, or perhaps half a
+mile from them, there is, though unseen and hidden in the thickness of
+the trees, a farm, or two or three houses; and when they are not pressed
+onward by the winter snows, or by maddening hunger, they stop,&mdash;for the
+smell of man is not pleasant to their nostrils, the neighbourhood is not
+agreeable to them, and they immediately withdraw from the spot.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus that these <i>Mares</i> are always at any person's disposal; the
+passing sportsman rarely makes more than a circuit round them; and if
+one is occasionally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> found on their banks, he may at once be set down as
+a beginner, who, having found the <i>Mares</i> No. 1 in the vicinity all
+occupied, has here installed himself for the evening in sheer vexation
+and despair. Over these pools of troubled water, frequented during the
+whole day by the inhabitants of the adjoining cottages, that eternal
+stillness and imposing solitude, which are the delight of the wolf and
+the boar, never reigns.</p>
+
+<p>The day has scarcely dawned ere the wood-cutters' wives, in their red
+petticoats, with brown jugs on their heads, come to fill them there, or
+to wash their vegetables; the cows to drink, the children to play at
+ducks and drakes, or the men to water the horses. But a little before
+nightfall all this going and coming, this trampling of heavy <i>sabots</i>,
+the bellowings, oaths, and cracking of whips subside, and cease, as if
+by magic, when the sun is down. The poultry and the peasants are equally
+silent, their huts are closed, their beds are gained, and their dogs,
+stretched motionless behind the door, snore and sleep soundly with open
+ear, and every leaf without is still.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>chasseur &agrave; l'aff&ucirc;t</i>, if inexperienced or not acquainted with the
+country, while reconnoitring the spot during the last few minutes of the
+twilight that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> remain, would never imagine that he was near an inhabited
+spot; not a bark, not a sound, not one twinkling light in a cottage
+window, not one wreath of ascending smoke is to be heard or seen.
+Thinking therefore that he has made a grand discovery, he rubs his hands
+with no little satisfaction, squats down at the foot of some tree, or in
+the temporary shed on the bank, and believes he is going to kill a dozen
+wolves at least.</p>
+
+<p>But, alas! it is in vain for him to open his eyes and his ears; nothing
+is to be seen but one or two hideous bats, which flap their wings in his
+face, and frighten him in the midst of a reverie. Nothing is on the
+move; no newt or tadpole is playing in the water, and nothing can be
+descried there but the rays of the moon, as she moves slowly o'er its
+surface; nor is anything to be heard except the wind whistling through
+the trees, or an occasional shot from the rifle of a brother sportsman,
+who, more happy, more clever, and better placed than himself, may be
+heard in the distance. I should not have thought of mentioning the
+<i>Mares</i> No. 2, so little do they deserve attention, if one of them had
+not been the scene of a very strange adventure of which I was witness;
+and as the description of it will give me an opportunity of speaking of
+the <i>Mares</i> No. 3, and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> the third mode of taking woodcocks, I shall
+profit by the circumstance to relate it.</p>
+
+<p>One day a <i>millionnaire</i>, a Lucullus, a rich banker of Paris, found
+himself dreadfully ill: his body grew larger every twenty-four hours;
+his neck sunk into his shoulders, his breathing became difficult, and
+three or four times in the course of a week he was within a little of
+being suffocated; as many times in the course of a month the gout, which
+in the morning had been tearing his toes and his heels as if with hot
+pincers, in the evening twisted his calves and his knees as if they were
+being made into ropes. What was to be done under these circumstances?
+The best physicians consulted together, and recommended him to order a
+pair of hob-nailed shoes from a country shoemaker, and instantly leave
+the capital.</p>
+
+<p>"Hob-nailed shoes, with donkey heels!" cried the banker, all amazed;
+"and for what, in the name of goodness?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to run with in search of health over the wild moors and heaths,
+and improve your figure by long walks in the mountains," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>And as the only hope of health was obedience, he prepared his mind to
+set off. It is true the doctors permitted him to carry with him his
+cane, his flute, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> his eye-glass; but he was obliged to leave behind
+his carriages, his horses, his luxurious arm-chairs and his cooks; in
+short, he was informed that, under the penalty of being quickly placed
+under ground, and obliged to shake hands with his respectable ancestors,
+and enjoy with them the nice white marble monuments under which they
+reposed, he must, for the next year at least, make use of his own legs,
+forget there were such things as <i>Rentes</i>, eat only when he felt hungry,
+and drink when he was thirsty.</p>
+
+<p>What a sentence for a rich Parisian banker! to leave his splendid hotel
+and his apartments, redolent with delicious perfumes, and play the
+pedestrian up and down the footpaths in the woods, the mossy glades and
+highway of the forest, or sit on a large stone at the top of a hill
+under the mid-day sun, and inhale from the valleys the soft breezes,
+laden with the odours of the new-mown hay, or the clover-fields in full
+blossom. His box at the grand opera, lined with velvet, must too be left
+behind, and many an adieu be given to the gauze-clad sylphides and
+painted nightingales of that gay establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, all these were to be exchanged for morning walks to the summit of
+some mountain; to make his bow to Aurora, and listen to the joyous carol
+of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> larks chanting high in the air their hymns of praise, or
+listening to their blithe little brothers of song, awakening in the
+bushes, and fluttering, amidst a shower of pearls and rubies&mdash;those dewy
+gems which hang in the sunny rays upon every branch. "Ah, it is all over
+with me!" wheezed the plethoric banker, when the junior doctor of the
+consultation of three informed him of their unanimous opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all over with me, gentlemen; in the name of mercy what will
+become of me, if I am put on the peasant's daily fare of buck-wheat and
+roasted beans? Consider again, gentlemen."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a matter of necessity, sir," replied the trio; "your life is at
+stake."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear doctors, withdraw these unwholesome words; open the consultation
+afresh; pass once more in review all your scientific acquirements, your
+great knowledge of chemistry, your hospital experience. Press, dear
+gentlemen, between both your hands the pharmacopean sponge, and in the
+name of mercy squeeze out for me some more agreeable remedy."</p>
+
+<p>"There is no other," replied the funereal-looking physicians.</p>
+
+<p>"What, is the house then really in danger?"</p>
+
+<p>"Danger! sir, why it is nearly on fire. Your heart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> is getting diseased,
+your lungs are touched, your blood is actually scented and coloured with
+the truffles you have eaten. Why, your very nose (pray excuse the
+freedom of our remark), your roseate nose bears testimony to what we
+say."</p>
+
+<p>"Alas, alas! this is I fear the truth; but, gentlemen, if I leave Paris,
+what on earth will become of the Great Northern and the Orleans
+Railways, and the funds,&mdash;my dividends, rents, and bad debts?"</p>
+
+<p>"And your feverish pulse, sir, your wrinkled liver, and your digestion,
+which scarcely ever allows you to close your eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes,&mdash;but my Spanish fives and Mexican bonds?"</p>
+
+<p>"And your bilious eyes and eyelids full of crows' feet, and the gout and
+the rheumatism which excruciate you?&mdash;those horrid spiders which are
+weaving their threads in the muscles of your calves?"</p>
+
+<p>"But my carrier-pigeons, gentlemen, source of my tenderest care; the
+brokerage, the speculation for the account, and my good friend, the
+Minister of the Interior, and of the <i>Travaux Publics</i>; and the snowball
+of my fortune, which must stop unproductive till I recover;&mdash;how can I
+leave all these to fate?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>"Think of your respiration, which is disorganized, and the vital
+principle, the torch of life, which flickers up and down in the socket,
+and ere many weeks will be extinguished, unless you at once take our
+advice."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" continued the votary of wealth,&mdash;"what! cannot gold purchase
+health, most sapient doctors?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir; doctors are paid, that's all, and people cure themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"You persist, then, in saying that I am not even to take my head cook
+with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"On no account whatever."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I am defunct already."</p>
+
+<p>"That you will be so, sir, in two months, if you remain here, there
+cannot be a doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"Then, good heavens! where can I go? What am I to do without carriages,
+without opera nightingales, and, above all things, without a head cook?"</p>
+
+<p>The night succeeding the consultation, the banker felt as if twenty
+cork-screws had been driven into his calves, and he made, ere dawn, a
+vow that he would leave the capital. This determination taken, the next
+point to be decided was in what direction to go,&mdash;for it was not a
+journey of pleasure he was about to take,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> but one of health; and for
+once his riches were of no further use to him than to provide the means
+of transit. His physicians, fashionable men, strange to say, were
+sincere, and did not order him to Nice or Lucca, hot-baths, or mineral
+waters, or even to the orange-groves of Hy&egrave;res, to which, when a rich
+man cannot recover, they send him, in order that he may die comfortably
+under Nature's warm blanket, the sun, inhaling with his last
+inspirations the delicious scent of her flowers. To Spain, where, said
+the invalid, they talk so loud and drink water, he would not go; nor to
+Germany, the land of meerschaums and sour crout. Which direction
+therefore was he to take? to which point of the compass was he to turn
+the vessel's prow?</p>
+
+<p>Several times did the unhappy banker pass his geography in review, but
+his knowledge of this science was indeed finite, and the Landes,
+Picardy, and such like spots, alone presented themselves to his
+imagination. In this predicament the light of friendship suddenly threw
+a ray over his thinking faculties; he remembered my father, the
+companion of his boyhood, with whom he had been brought up,&mdash;his great
+friend, without doubt, but of whom he had not thought for the last ten
+years.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p><p>"By all the blue devils that dance in my brain!" said the unhappy
+<i>millionnaire</i>, starting up on his bed of pain, as if he had a spring in
+his back, and throwing at the nose of his astonished apothecary, who was
+watching him, the draught presented to him,&mdash;"by the wig of my respected
+grandfather,&mdash;by the beard of &AElig;sculapius, I have found the real friend
+who will pour over my head the oil of health."</p>
+
+<p>"My good sir," said his attendant, "pray calm yourself, and take this
+pill" ...</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that dear friend, he will set me all to rights&mdash;he will bring to
+my heavy eyelids those peaceful slumbers which now, alas! I never
+enjoy."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Sir," repeated the apothecary, "pray be so good as to lay down and
+swallow this."</p>
+
+<p>"Back, felon of hell! horse-leech, son of a poultice! go, doctor of the
+devil, and join your friend in black below."</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>Monsieur le Banquier</i>"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Off I say, off!&mdash;sinister raven, cease your croaking! Silence&mdash;take the
+abominable drugs yourself&mdash;poison yourself, you wretch. Give me my
+trousers, and let me dress myself. Hey, Bilboquet!&mdash;bring my hot water,
+razors, and shaving soap. Hurrah! Ph&#339;bus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> light the sun and put out
+the stars; arise day! Into the saddle, postillions,&mdash;here, bring some
+cigars. Hurrah! the wind is up; now, my stout boatmen, down to your
+oars." "Halloo! halloo!" shouted his attendant, "help! help!" and he got
+at both bells and rang away with might and main; but before any one came
+the banker was out of bed, struck his attendant a blow in the eye, which
+made him see one hundred and forty-six suns, and laid him upon the
+floor, after which he commenced waltzing <i>en chemise</i> in his delirium,
+all round the room with a chair, dragging after him the unfortunate hero
+of the pestle and mortar, and roaring at the top of his voice these
+lines of Racine:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Peut-&ecirc;tre on t'a cont&eacute; la fameuse disgr&acirc;ce<br />
+De l'alti&egrave;re Vasthi dont j'occupe la place,<br />
+Lorsque le Roi, centre elle enflamm&eacute; de d&eacute;pit,&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="noin">followed by&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Quel prof&acirc;ne en ces lieux ose porter ses pas?<br />
+Hol&agrave;, gardes!&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a reinforcement most luckily arrived; but as in this
+access of fever he defended himself against all comers like a bear, and
+boxed away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> like an Englishman, they had no little difficulty in
+securing him; at length, in spite of his violence, he was replaced in
+his bed, like a sword into its sheath. There, however, he would not lay
+quiet; first he tore the satin curtains, then he hugged his
+richly-worked pillow to his breast, calling it his best and dearest
+friend, and performed fifty other such antics. He obtained, in short, no
+repose, until his secretary, who entered at his bidding half-dressed and
+with one eye half shut, had written the following note to my father,
+under his dictation,&mdash;a letter evidently written in a paroxysm of high
+fever:</p>
+
+<p>"Friend of my heart, jessamine of my soul, bright party-coloured tulip
+of my <i>souvenirs</i>, may the Creator pour upon your gray and venerable
+head a stream from his flower-pot of blessings!</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Friend,&mdash;Several atrocious doctors, with pale noses, the very
+sight of which gives one the cholic, and with black searching eyes, that
+make one tremble, say that I am very ill,&mdash;that I shall die. They say
+too that there is only one mode of cure, and that is to take my valuable
+body into your beautiful province. It is the east wind they say, and
+blue-bottles, corn-flowers, field-poppies, and the green turf; the song
+of the nightingale and the beautiful moonlight nights;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> the hum of bees
+and the bleating of sheep, which will effect this marvellous cure. It is
+amongst the rocks and streams of your mountains, in long walks in your
+forests, and in your valleys; in the innocent candour of your pretty
+peasant girls, the pure water of your fountains, and the cream cheeses
+of your dairies that I am told resides the power to retain here below my
+soul, just ready to fly away. Alas! yes, I am forced to admit the fact;
+I must say I am very ill, and it is my own fault;&mdash;yes, my own undoubted
+fault. I have drank too deeply of voluptuous ease; I have tasted too
+often the luscious grapes of forbidden pleasures. I am no longer
+virtuous enough to wish to see the sun rise, and hence it is that I am
+suffering intensely in the capacity of a human pincushion, in which, one
+after the other, the sharpest and most pointed pins have stuck
+themselves, namely, every infirmity and every disease that mortal man is
+heir to.</p>
+
+<p>"In this delicate and distressing position, dear friend, I thought of
+you: yes, to you, to you only, shall I owe my restoration to health. Do
+not therefore be surprised if, in the course of a few days, you should
+see my shadow approach your hospitable door; and prepare for it, I beg
+you, a small room and a bed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> of dried leaves, coarse bread, and a jug of
+water. It seems that in order to regenerate my blood I shall want all
+these; and I shall be fortunate if, in seeking a perfect restoration to
+health, I am not obliged to be a swine-herd or keep sheep, to dig, cut,
+and saw wood, pick spinach, or weed the flower-beds! Quick, my friend;
+light with all convenient haste the altar on which we will burn again
+the incense and benjamin of friendship. Blow again the sparks now so
+nearly extinguished of our happy boyish days; revive again the holy
+flames of our youthful affections; and, above all things, have the
+scissors ready which are to cut the Gordian knot of my complicated
+diseases. Soon, in shaking you by the hand, my shadow shall say much
+more."</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+Yours, &amp;c.,<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>Fifteen days after the receipt of this extraordinary composition, the
+banker, escorted by a lean and cadaverous-looking doctor, arrived at our
+<i>ch&acirc;teau</i>, half strangled with a churchyard cough, and in a state of
+apparently hopeless debility. He was evidently very, very ill; and if it
+had not been for the sincere friendship my father had for him, I really
+do not know how we could have supported the dark cloud which his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+presence seemed to throw upon our house for nearly nine mortal weeks.</p>
+
+<p>No one dared either to move or speak: if you wished to laugh, it could
+only be on the terrace; if to blow your nose, it was to be done in the
+cellar; and as to sneezing, one was obliged to go to the bottom of the
+garden. The horses' feet were wrapped up in hay-bands, so that no sound
+should be heard in the court-yard; the servants went about the house in
+list shoes, and all the approaches to it were knee-deep in straw. There
+was an end to the <i>fanfares</i> of the huntsman's horn, and the rollicking
+chorus; guns, shot and powder, were all placed under lock and key; the
+kennel was mute, and the muzzled dogs looked piteously at one another,
+and hung their heads, as if they had given themselves up to the certain
+prospect of being drowned. The very hares knew how matters were, and
+passed to and fro before the garden-windows; and a stray wolf, which
+came one evening into the court-yard, sat on his hind-quarters and
+looked us impudently in the face; as to the birds, they ate up very
+nearly every peach and apricot we had. The silence of the grave reigned
+everywhere&mdash;the house seemed a very sepulchre, in which nothing could be
+heard but the monotonous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> liquid bubblings of the fountains, the ticking
+of the clocks, and the sighing breezes that whistled through the
+casements.</p>
+
+<p>Fairly worn out with this state of things, I was thinking seriously of
+leaving for the gay swamps of Holland, when a crisis occurred in the
+banker's disorder, and after a severe struggle, in which every bone of
+his body seemed to twist itself round, he was declared by his pallid
+doctor out of danger&mdash;saved. Surrounding his bed, we drank with no
+little joy to his perfect recovery, and during one entire week we
+suspended on the walls of his bed-room, according to the custom in Le
+Morvan, garlands of lilies and <i>vervenia</i>, interwoven with green foliage
+and wild thyme. From this time he improved daily, and three months after
+no one would have recognized the sick man; his face became quite rosy,
+and his eyes looked full of returning health. With a gun on his
+shoulder, he followed us nimbly through the vineyards, never flinched
+from his bottle, sang barcarolles with the ladies, made declarations of
+love to all the young girls, promised to marry each, once at least, and
+danced away in the evening under the acacias with the nymphs of the
+village, to whom he had always some secret to tell behind the trees, or
+in some snug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> little corner. The woodcock season having arrived during
+his stay, which was now nearly over, we determined that he should be
+introduced to <i>la chasse aux Mares</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Pardon me, kind reader, for all this gossip by the way, but this is the
+point at which I wished to arrive.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Summer months in the Forest&mdash;<i>Mare</i> No. 3&mdash;Description of it&mdash;The
+Woodcock fly&mdash;The Banker has a day's sport&mdash;Arrives at the
+<i>Mare</i>&mdash;Difficult to please in his choice of a hut&mdash;Proceeds to a
+larger <i>Mare</i>&mdash;His friends retire&mdash;The Banker on the alert for a
+Wolf or a Boar&mdash;Fires at some animal&mdash;The unfortunate
+discovery&mdash;Rage of the Parisian&mdash;Pays for his blunder, and recovers
+his temper.</p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">During</span> the months of June, July, and August, the great heats in our
+forests are suffocating, and the woodcock, which during the livelong day
+has been squatting under some mossy root, is impressed with the idea
+that a bathe in a clear pool of cold fresh water would be very conducive
+to its health. Thus directly the sun, red as a shot which leaves the
+furnace, falls below the horizon, and that the clouds surrounding the
+spot where it disappears, at first lurid and bright like fire, then
+yellow like a sea of gold, become cool, pale, and at length sink into
+more sober hues, the woodcock,&mdash;which waits only for this moment to open
+its wings and promenade the neighbourhood,&mdash;comes forth and commences a
+study of the winds. Guided by instinct, and by the fresh currents of
+air<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> that float unseen in the atmosphere, she follows the sweet upland
+breezes, and soon arrives at the spring or piece of water of which she
+is in search.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Mares</i> No. 3, in which the woodcock more especially loves to take a
+bath, are almost as difficult to find as the one that I discovered, for
+they are hidden in the depths of the forest; like it, also, they are for
+the most part small, encircled by the thick foliage of the surrounding
+trees, and consequently very dark; and the more this is the case, the
+more solitary they are, and therefore the more sought after by this
+bird. A woodcock never bathes in the <i>Mare</i> No. 1; for to them resort
+one after another all the large game, or those No. 2, as these are too
+open. The woodcocks are discreet and bashful, and, like the wives of the
+Sultan, love a retired bath-room, where they may disport themselves on
+banks ever fresh and green, perfumed with wild flowers, and immerse
+their fair persons in pellucid waters that have never been tainted with
+a drop of blood, or covered with feathers torn from the victim of the
+sportsman's gun. Thus it is therefore that the <i>Mares</i> frequented by the
+woodcock are so entirely hidden by the thick and falling branches, so
+enveloped in deep shade, that you must have eyes made on purpose to be
+able to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> discover their large brown bodies plunging in the crystal water
+and wading amongst the flags. In aid of the sportsman, now as in the
+spring, a little fly comes buzzing and wheeling about in the air to warn
+the sportsman of the arrival of the birds, which, directly the moon's
+white horn is seen glancing between the trees, arrive flapping their
+wings in small parties of two and three at a time. One afternoon, when
+the wind blew soft, and the sun was refulgent in the azure above, we
+proposed an excursion in the forest to our friend the banker, who was
+now quite convalescent.</p>
+
+<p>"What! do you wish to give me up to the beasts?" cried he, jumping up
+from his seat.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all, dear sir, pray don't be alarmed; we are merely desirous of
+making you acquainted with the most innocent, the least dangerous sport
+of the <i>chasse &agrave; l'aff&ucirc;t</i>," and having convinced him, we started.
+Everything went well as far as the entrance to the forest; but there the
+<i>millionnaire</i>, little accustomed to walk over the stumps of underwood
+and amongst the thorns, he began to drop into the rear, stopping every
+now and then to rest against some tree, or disentangle his legs from
+some yards of bramble, puffing and blowing, and ejaculating Oh's! and
+Ha's! by dozens.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>"Courage! sir," we said, "courage! we shall arrive too late; one brisk
+half-hour's walk, and we are at our posts."</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, gentlemen, you are really considerate; I walk, I suspect,
+quite as fast as you. But"&mdash;and how was he delighted to find an excuse
+for a halt&mdash;"you spoke of a <i>chasse a l'aff&ucirc;t</i>, hiding for what I should
+like to know&mdash;for bears, panthers, or crocodiles? is it this kind of
+game we are to watch for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! no&mdash;for woodcocks."</p>
+
+<p>"Woodcocks!&mdash;what, have you made me walk since the morning through
+perfect beds of briars and over miles of large stones, escalade the
+mountains, descend precipices, and brought me through water-courses and
+dark ravines, to kill a few woodcocks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Would you prefer confronting a wild boar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," said the puffing convalescent; "if there was no chance of
+danger, I should infinitely prefer killing a boar."</p>
+
+<p>"For to-day this is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"Why so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, in the first place, there are no boars in this wood, and it is too
+late to take you to those which they frequent."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><p>"Then we shall find only woodcocks in the place we are going to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing else; at least during the half-hour we shall remain."</p>
+
+<p>"And if we were to remain more than half an hour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! then we might perhaps by accident see a roebuck&mdash;perhaps a hungry
+wolf."</p>
+
+<p>"A hungry wolf!&mdash;the deuce! And if there should come by chance a wolf to
+the <i>Mare</i> when I shall be all alone, what must I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why kill it, to be sure."</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, why of course I should kill the ferocious animal,"&mdash;and the
+banker, though smacking his fingers and whistling as if quite
+unconcerned, looked very grave. Continuing our walk, we arrived at the
+<i>Mares</i>.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness," said my companion, "how dark it is here,"&mdash;looking into each
+hut that was shown him. "Misericorde! if I were to ensconce myself in
+this leafy cabin, this gloomy sombre hole, I should fancy myself seated
+at the bottom of a blacking-bottle&mdash;I respectfully decline the honour of
+occupying the hut."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, let us proceed to another," we exclaimed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> But the second
+was pronounced more lugubrious and melancholy-looking than the first,
+and the third not more agreeable than the preceding one.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no longer a matter of doubt," said the Parisian; "you are a
+family of owls. What! place myself in these holes, these mouse-traps, in
+these tumuli of leaves, where the archfiend himself, habituated to every
+kind of darkness, could not distinguish anything?&mdash;thank you, gentlemen.
+As to you, you can see clear; but by the great telescope of the
+observatory, if I were to get into one of these rustic ovens, I should
+not in five minutes be able to distinguish the end of my nose&mdash;I should
+not be able to find my way to my breeches-pocket."</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear sir," said I to him, when alone, for my two friends were
+now snugly seated in the rejected huts, "you are very difficult to
+please, and it becomes embarrassing, for these cabins are all alike;
+when you have seen one you have seen a dozen. Now this, believe me, is a
+capital one; come, seat yourself here."</p>
+
+<p>"I am much obliged to you, not that one; for this pool of water in
+particular has something very sinister about it; the spot feels raw, and
+has an unpleasant wolfish air."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>What was to be done? While debating thus, I remembered that at some
+little distance from the place where we then were, stood two large
+farms, Les Fermes des Amandiers, and that, at a distance of half a mile
+beyond them, there was a magnificent <i>Mare</i>, in the style, it is true,
+of <i>Mare</i> No. 2, large and open, and yet it would be as useless to wait
+for woodcocks there as it would be to hope to catch a trout in the
+basins of Trafalgar-square. Such a spot seemed to me admirably
+calculated for the banker; I resolved, therefore, to conduct him to it.</p>
+
+<p>"If this hut does not please you," said I, "follow me, and quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going to take me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! do not alarm yourself, I have just thought of a place that will
+suit you exactly: a charming spot, delightfully scented by a thicket of
+honeysuckles; but you must be on the alert. See, the sun is nearly below
+the summit of the tallest oaks&mdash;we shall not have more than one hour of
+daylight; and I must return here."</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived at the <i>Mare</i> of which I was in search, the immediate
+neighbourhood of it was already silent and deserted. "Heavens!" said the
+enchanted banker, "what a delightful spot! Quick!&mdash;where shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> I place
+myself? Let us look for the hut&mdash;ha! here it is, but half in ruins;" for
+it had not, in all probability, been occupied three times in the last
+three years; we were obliged therefore to cut some branches, and roughly
+repair it; and the banker, having crept into the interior, like a sweep
+up a chimney, requested to have his last instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when night has nearly closed in," said I, laughing under my
+moustache, "be on the <i>qui vive</i>. The woodcocks will be here, but move
+not; be like a statue for a few minutes; let them approach&mdash;let them
+come, fly and whirl, and look about them; then, when reassured by your
+silence, they will fall into the shallow water, paddle in the grass, and
+plunging throw their legs into the air. At that moment they are yours.
+Take your time and a deliberate aim, and miss them not. The sport over,
+remain where you are, and on our return we will join you."</p>
+
+<p>"All you say is very clear and very pretty," replied the banker; "but I
+feel already a horrid cramp in my left leg; and if I am to remain
+crumpled up in this hut, like a Turk taking his coffee, or like a monkey
+gnawing an apple, when you come for me I shall have lost the use of my
+limbs."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! if that is likely to be your fate, walk about&mdash;stretch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> your legs;
+you have yet twenty minutes before dark. Adieu, sir, adieu; and good
+luck attend you; for myself, I must be off to my post." But I had gone
+scarcely thirty yards when he shouted after me, "Oh! Henri&mdash;my dear
+young friend&mdash;come back. Here! see, a pack of wolves! What do I say? no;
+a whole family of bears has passed this way! Look! the border of the
+<i>Mare</i> is ploughed up by the feet of these savage brutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Bears, sir! those marks are merely the trampling of the shepherds'
+dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"Shepherds' dogs! Stoop down&mdash;look closer; do you mean to tell me that
+the shepherds' dogs have made these prints of cloven feet in the mud?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! those are holes made by the young calves from some neighbouring
+farm, that came to drink here," I replied, repressing a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense! Henri; calves, indeed! they are the marks of buffaloes and
+wild boars. You cannot deceive me; for I know something about such
+things. Why, this <i>Mare</i> is, I have no doubt, the rendezvous of all the
+beasts of the forest for ten miles round. Thank you, I don't intend to
+remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"Not remain! why you will, if you are correct, have far better fun than
+we shall. Come, get into the hut."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p><p>"Remain with me, and divide the honour of the sport."</p>
+
+<p>"Me? no: I thank you,&mdash;adieu! and keep your eyes about you."</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo! Henri, come back. By the spectacles of my grandmother, what
+will become of me? I am a fool! I have lost my sight&mdash;I have forgot my
+eye-glass."</p>
+
+<p>"Try to do without it."</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible! it is useless&mdash;without an eye-glass I cannot see a yard
+before me; I shall most certainly leave this <i>Mare</i>. I shall be off with
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," said I to him, "you must know and feel that if I thought
+there was the most remote chance of danger, I would not leave you alone;
+you really have nothing to fear&mdash;if you come with me, you will be
+dreadfully in the way, and without doing the least possible good. The
+huts are so very small, that there is only sufficient room for one: we
+shall kill nothing, and be laughed at into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"But these terrible quadrupeds; what if they should come and devour me
+when you are gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you you have nothing to fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then I will believe you; after all, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> am not a coward, but
+a man: a royal tiger would not frighten me, and in spite of these sombre
+looking trees waving to and fro, this silence, and the solitary look of
+the place, I remain; yes, by Jupiter, I remain; only barricade me in the
+rear, cut some thick branches, palisade me well round&mdash;there, now I
+think you may leave me, I require nothing more&mdash;and yet one word; if I
+were in danger, do you think you would hear me if I called?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, a whisper may almost be heard in the forest at night&mdash;the
+trees conduct the slightest sound."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, give me a shake of your hand. Adieu."</p>
+
+<p>"Adieu, sir; be patient, and, above all, wait for our return."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me alone for that; never fear my leaving this hut alone."</p>
+
+<p>"And cover your head well, for nothing is so likely to give one cold as
+the night air rushing into the ears."</p>
+
+<p>"And mind, now, don't pray forget me. If you are not here in
+three-quarters of an hour, I shall fire signals of distress, and make
+the forest ring again with my maledictions."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>But without waiting to hear anything further, I was off, and soon
+reached my post. The sport, as usual, was pretty good; my friends and
+myself killed four couple of woodcocks, and the <i>aff&ucirc;t</i> over, we turned
+our steps towards the banker's cabin. No report of a gun had yet been
+heard in his direction, but suddenly, and when we were scarcely five
+hundred paces from the hut, and I was on the point of announcing our
+arrival by a shrill whistle&mdash;two barrels were discharged one after the
+other&mdash;then followed a long and heavy groan, and after that a cry of
+distress. In a few seconds we bounded to the spot, and found our friend
+stretched on the grass outside his hut, without his hat, his eyes
+staring wildly about him, and his hair in disorder. He was trembling
+with emotion, and pointed to a black animal, half hid in the water and
+the rushes, which seemed very large, and was rolling from side to side
+in the agonies of approaching death. Fright, downright fright, had tied
+the banker's tongue; and while he is collecting his senses, allow me to
+tell you, good reader, what had occurred in our absence.</p>
+
+<p>Dumb and motionless, as directed, he had, during half an hour, waited
+anxiously for the woodcocks;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> but the woodcocks had for a very long time
+forgotten the road to this <i>Mare</i>; not one came&mdash;there was no sport for
+him. He had already fancied he heard us returning in the distance, and
+that his cramped legs would be set at liberty, and his twisted body
+again assume the perpendicular, when all at once a cold perspiration
+stood upon his brow, terror seized him; for behind, nay, almost close to
+him, he heard advancing the heavy tramp and loud breathing of a wild
+beast, and before he had time to observe what kind of an animal it was,
+the brute passed so close to the hut that he pressed it down, and rushed
+on to the <i>Mare</i>. More dead than alive, the banker lay half-squeezed in
+a corner of his cabin, and panting for breath, dared scarcely move.
+After a few minutes, however, he hazarded a careful glance outside, and
+not twenty paces from him saw the immense quadruped bathing, and rolling
+himself quietly in the water.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a gigantic boar," said he to himself, "as large as a horse, and
+as old as Methuselah&mdash;no doubt the patriarch of the forest&mdash;what tusks
+he must have! Let us observe." And with a courage which did him credit,
+he, after some time, suppressed his fear, and felt in the pocket of his
+game-bag for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> two balls, which, with trembling hands, he slipped into
+his gun. After this he again looked out, and reconnoitred the movements
+of the enemy; but so great was the obscurity, that he could discover
+nothing&mdash;unless, indeed, it was a dark mass which walked and jumped
+hither and thither, rolled, frolicked, and rejoiced in his refreshing
+bath. The heart of the Parisian was greatly agitated, and beat as if it
+would split his flannel waistcoat; nevertheless, he took good and
+deliberate aim at the black object in front, and though exceedingly
+terrified, he cocked his gun, and in a perfect fever of excitement let
+fly both barrels, falling immediately backwards in a corner of his hut,
+perfectly bewildered with his own courage. A deep groan followed, and at
+the end of a few minutes of agony and suspense, our friend, seeing no
+tiger in the act of springing upon him, hazarded another look, when he
+still heard the creature moaning, and groaning, and floundering in the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>The fact was, he had by a miracle, and without seeing, done that which
+he never could have done at mid-day,&mdash;his two balls had perforated the
+animal's head and neck. Observing the monster raising itself with
+difficulty, and endeavouring to withdraw its legs from the sticky mud in
+which they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> were fixed, the courage of despair rushed into his heart&mdash;he
+left the hut, upsetting everything in his way, and precipitated himself
+upon his adversary with a view of despatching him with the butt end of
+his gun, or making him retreat further into the <i>Mare</i>, when imagine his
+consternation and fear,&mdash;at the very moment his uplifted arm was
+stretched out, like Jupiter's in the act of hurling a thunderbolt, the
+animal raised himself on his haunches, looked him full in the face,
+opened two enormous jaws, put up two very long ears, and instead of a
+roar full of rage and ferocity, sent forth the most agonizing and
+dolorous bray that was ever heard from the throat of any ass, French,
+English, or Spanish! Yes! it was an ass the banker had mortally wounded;
+an unfortunate ass, which, driven by thirst and the heat of the weather,
+had left his shed at the neighbouring farm-house, to quench it and
+refresh himself with a bath.</p>
+
+<p>Surprise, shame, horror, and confusion began to dance a polka in the
+banker's brain, and made him utter the hoarse cry which we had heard.
+While we were yet gazing at each other the poor creature, by a last
+effort, raised his bleeding head once more above the water, and
+collecting all the strength he had left,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> scrambled from the <i>Mare</i>,
+gave a half-suffocating and plaintive bray, and casting a look full of
+reproach upon the gasping banker, which seemed to say, "I die, but I
+forgive you," fell dead at our feet.</p>
+
+<p>A convulsion of laughter from the party, now all assembled, followed;
+even the birds, awakened from their slumbers, began to sing and partake
+of the general hilarity.</p>
+
+<p>"Halloo! Mr. Three per Cent.," said one, "this is what you call
+sporting, is it&mdash;killing starved woodcocks? Fie! sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You are three infamous vagabonds," replied the Parisian, catching his
+breath, and picking up his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"What! sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you are a trinity of rascals, I repeat."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what's the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Abominable hypocrites, I say; this is a piece of acting, a trick which
+you have kindly put upon me&mdash;this ass was driven here by you, or by some
+one at your suggestion; I see clearly how it is."</p>
+
+<p>"See clearly, do you? it is a pity, then, you did not a few minutes
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"It is an infernal plot, I say; think you that I came into this wretched
+country of forests to kill donkeys?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p><p>"Well! but whose fault is it, sir; why did you not bring your
+eye-glass?"</p>
+
+<p>"My eye-glass; I don't require one, gentlemen, to enable me to see that
+you have made a fool of me."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir, reflect for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"No, gentlemen, I feel indignant at the paltry joke you have played upon
+me&mdash;you knew that my sight was weak, and on that infirmity you have
+practised a very shameful trick; you have said to yourselves, 'Send an
+ass to this Parisian, he will no doubt take it for a wild boar.' Be off,
+gentlemen, depart; let me have a clear horizon, or I shall proceed to
+extremity."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le Banquier, if you do not become a little more reasonable, we
+shall leave you to your reflections and to yourself, and pretty pickings
+you will be for the wolves."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better; I wish to remain, I desire it; and after the gross
+insult you have offered me, I shall certainly not be beholden to you as
+a guide, or return to the town in your company." And he kicked the dead
+carcass before him in his rage.</p>
+
+<p>"But, Monsieur le Banquier, the night is getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> chilly and damp, and
+remember you are only just convalescent; come, let us be off."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen, I have already told you I shall not accompany you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, this is madness, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Anything you please; but thus it shall be. I will not leave this wood
+until I have killed a wolf; yes, I must have a wolf; it is only in the
+blood of a wolf that I can wash out the insult I have received; and I
+will remain in the forest eight days, fifteen, three months, if
+necessary. I will live on acorns, ants, toad's eggs, and roots, but by
+the soul of that stupid brute that lays there," and he gave the deceased
+ass a second kick, "I will not budge until I have killed a wolf: enable
+me to slaughter a wolf, and I will follow you; nay, what is more,
+forgive you."</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur le Banquier, let us in the first place tie a stone round the
+neck of this unfortunate animal, and throw his body into the <i>Mare</i>, and
+then, as we are the only witnesses of this adventure, we swear that we
+will never divulge it to any one, or make the slightest allusion to it;
+and, as we are men of honour, you will of course believe us;&mdash;the secret
+shall be kept inviolable. On the other hand, as we are to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> a certain
+extent responsible for your health, and as your remaining here any
+longer in this cold wind will seriously endanger it, do not feel
+discomposed if we defer to another day the pleasure of seeing you kill a
+wolf, and request you will accompany us back to the <i>ch&acirc;teau</i>."</p>
+
+<p>With various flattering speeches and consoling words, to heal his
+mortification, we at length succeeded in bringing him away with us; many
+a laugh had we on our road home, and many were the promises given that
+we would never reveal the events of the evening. But, alas! the secret
+came out on the following day, for before twelve o'clock had struck, a
+peasant came knocking at the door, howling, crying, bawling like a blind
+beggar, and demanding who had killed his ass. His importunity succeeded;
+the murderer was brought to light, the banker cheerfully paid for his
+shot, and laughed heartily at the adventure; but in spite of his
+apparent philosophy, I remarked that from that moment he never met an
+ass that he did not turn away his head; and this is the kind of game
+that one finds in <i>Mare</i> No. 2.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The <i>Cur&eacute;</i> of the Mountain&mdash;Toby Gold Button&mdash;Hospitality&mdash;The
+<i>Cur&eacute;'s</i> pig&mdash;His hard fate and reflections&mdash;The <i>Cur&eacute;</i> of the
+plain&mdash;His worth and influence&mdash;The agent of the Government&mdash;Landed
+Proprietors&mdash;Their influence&mdash;The Orator&mdash;Dialogue with a Peasant. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">If</span> the Burgundian curates dwelling in the richest parts of the province
+are fat, sleek, and jovial members of the Establishment,&mdash;if in their
+cellars are to be found the best and most generous wines, and on their
+tables the most exquisite dishes,&mdash;the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> of that portion of Le
+Morvan which is immediately adjacent to Burgundy enjoy the same
+abundance, and appreciate the advantages of good living equally with
+them. But this is not the case with their <i>confr&egrave;res</i> who reside in the
+uplands, amongst the arid and volcanic mountains, without roads, and the
+thickly timbered hill-district which joins the Nivernais. There the
+village pastors are poor, thin, and badly fed; fairly buried in the
+forest, and surrounded by a population more wretched and squalid than
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> rats of their own churches;&mdash;they seem as it were abandoned by
+everybody. That which I am about to relate will prove this, and show
+what a deplorable existence theirs is, and the ingenious methods to
+which they are obliged to have recourse to keep up a fair outside.</p>
+
+<p>One of them thus exiled to a most deserted part of our forests, and who,
+the whole year, except on a few rare occasions, lived only on fruit and
+vegetables, hit upon a most admirable expedient for providing an animal
+repast to set before the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> of the neighbourhood, when one or the
+other, two or three times during the year, ventured into these dreadful
+solitudes, with a view of assuring himself with his own eyes that his
+unfortunate colleague had not yet died of hunger. The <i>cur&eacute;</i> in question
+possessed a pig, his whole fortune: and you will see, gentle reader, the
+manner in which he used it.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately the bell of his presbytery announced a visitor, (the bell
+was red with rust, and its iron tongue never spoke unless to announce a
+formal visit,) and that his cook had shown his clerical friend into the
+parlour, the master of the house, drawing himself up majestically, said
+to his housekeeper (<i>cur&eacute;s</i> fortunately always have, cousins, nieces, or
+house-keepers),<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> as Louis XIV. might have said to Vatal, "Brigitte, let
+there be a good dinner for myself and my friend." Brigitte, although she
+knew there were only stale crusts and dried peas in her larder, seemed
+in no degree embarrassed by this order; she summoned to her assistance
+"Toby, the Carrot," so called because his hair was as red as that of a
+native of West Galloway, and leaving the house together, they both went
+in search of the pig.</p>
+
+<p>Toby the Carrot, a youth of seventeen, was the presbyter's page, a poor
+half-starved devil that the <i>cur&eacute;</i> had taken into his service, who
+lodged him badly, boarded him worse, and gave him no clothes at all; but
+who, nevertheless, in his moments of good-humour&mdash;they were rare&mdash;and no
+doubt to recompense him for so many drawbacks, would call him "Toby
+Gold-button." At this innocent little pleasantry, this touch of
+affability, Toby grinned from ear to ear, made a deep reverence, and put
+the compliment carefully into his pocket, regretting however, no doubt,
+that he had nothing more substantial and savoury than this to eat with
+his coarse dry bread. Toby was a very useful servitor to the <i>cur&eacute;</i>; he
+was always on the alert; fat did not check his rapid movements, and from
+the time the Angelus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> rang in the morning to Vespers in the evening, his
+long skinny legs were constantly going. He drew the water, peeled and
+washed the onions, blacked the shoes&mdash;and how <i>cur&eacute;'s</i> shoes do
+shine!&mdash;rang the chapel-bell, gathered the acorns for the pig, intoned
+the Amen when his master said mass, swept and weeded the garden, snared
+the thrushes&mdash;which he cooked and eat in secret&mdash;and, dressed in a white
+surplice, carried the cross and the Viaticum, and accompanied the <i>cur&eacute;</i>
+at night when on his way to offer the last consolations of religion to
+some dying poacher in the forest. These expeditions were sometimes
+across the mountains, and along the dry bed of some torrent, in which,
+according to Toby's notion, they would have certainly perished had not
+the <i>Bon Dieu</i> been with them.</p>
+
+<p>But we must return to our parson's pig, which after a short skirmish was
+caught by Brigitte and her carrotty assistant; and notwithstanding his
+cries, his grunts, his gestures of despair and supplication, the inhuman
+cook, seizing his head, opened a large vein in his throat, and relieved
+him of two pounds of blood; this, with the addition of garlic, shallots,
+mint, wild thyme and parsley, was converted into a most savoury and
+delicious black-pudding for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> <i>cur&eacute;</i>, and his friend, and being
+served to their reverences smoking hot on the summit of a pyramid of
+yellow cabbage, figured admirably as a small Vesuvius and a centre dish.
+The surgical operation over, Brigitte, whose qualifications as a
+sempstress were superior, darned up the hole in the neck of the
+unfortunate animal, and he was then turned loose until a fresh supply of
+black-puddings should be required for a similar occasion. This wretched
+pig was never happy: how could he be so? Like Damocles of Syracuse, he
+lived in a state of perpetual fever; terror seized him directly he heard
+the <i>cur&eacute;'s</i> bell, and seeing in imagination the uplifted knife already
+about to glide into his bacon, he invariably took to his heels before
+Brigitte was half way to the door to answer it.</p>
+
+<p>If, as usual, the peal announced a diner-out, Brigitte and Gold-button
+were soon on his track, calling him by the most tender epithets, and
+promising that he should have something nice for his supper, skim-milk,
+&amp;c.; but the pig, with his painful experience, was not such a fool as to
+believe them; hidden behind an old cask, some faggots, or lying in a
+deep ditch, he remained silent as the grave, and kept himself close as
+long as possible.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p><p>Discovered, however, he was sure to be at last, when he would rush into
+the garden, and running up and down it like a mad creature, upset
+everything in his way; for several minutes it was a regular
+steeple-chase&mdash;across the beds, now over the turnips, then through the
+gooseberry-bushes; in short, he was here, there, and everywhere; but in
+spite of all his various stratagems to escape the fatal incision, the
+poor pig always finished by being seized, tied, thrown on the ground,
+and bled: the vein was then once more cleverly sewn up, and the inhuman
+operators quietly retired from the scene to make the <i>cur&eacute;'s</i> far-famed
+black-pudding. Half dead upon the spot where he was phlebotomized, the
+wretched animal was left to reflect under the shade of a tulip-tree on
+the cruelty of man, on their barbarous appetites; cursing with all his
+heart the poverty of Morvinian curates, their conceited hospitality, of
+which he was the victim, and their brutal affection for pig's blood.</p>
+
+<p>I shall now endeavour to give the reader a description of the curate of
+the plain; but he should clearly understand that I do not present this
+character to him as the general standard of ecclesiastical
+excellence,&mdash;quite the contrary; I am sorry to say I think it an
+exception. My sketch, therefore, applies only to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> those <i>cur&eacute;s</i>, who
+reside in a remote rural district like that of Le Morvan; I advance
+nothing that I have not seen myself, and if I should ever have the
+pleasure of meeting any of my English friends in Le Morvan, I could
+introduce them to ten <i>cur&eacute;s</i> one and all similar in every respect to
+the ecclesiastic I am about to pourtray.</p>
+
+<p>In the interior of this district, that is to say in the midst of her
+rich plains, and in the hilly but not mountainous parts of it, the
+<i>cur&eacute;s</i> are quite of another stamp; less poor than the herbivorous
+gentleman we have just described, but not so well to do as those of
+Burgundy; living under a state of things altogether peculiar to
+themselves, far from the great cities, and yet in direct communication
+with them, they are obliged by a common interest to identify themselves
+with the events of the day. Every curate of the plain possesses an
+immense influence in his parish and neighbourhood, and as at a moment
+their support may be of great use in a political point of view, the
+government, which is alive to everything, caresses, smiles on, and
+cajoles them.</p>
+
+<p>In the moorland districts, also, and in the little villages which border
+the great forests, the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> are everything, and do everything. They
+perform the part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> of judge, doctor and apothecary, banker and architect,
+carpenter and schoolmaster; they give the designs for the cottages, mark
+the boundaries of estates, receive and put out the savings of their
+flocks, marry, baptize, and bury, offer consolation to the afflicted,
+encourage the unfortunate, purchase the crops, and sell a neighbour's
+vineyard. They represent the sun, by the influence of whose rays
+everything germinates and lives; it is their hand&mdash;the hand of
+justice&mdash;that arrests and heals all quarrels; the unselfish source from
+whence good counsels flow&mdash;the moral charter from which the peasant
+reads and learns the duties of a citizen.</p>
+
+<p>Ask not the population of our plains and forests, and secluded
+agricultural districts, to which political party they belong; if they
+are republicans, royalists, socialists or communists, reds or blues,
+whites or tricolor,&mdash;they know nothing of all this. Their
+opinions&mdash;their religion&mdash;are those of <i>Monsieur le Cur&eacute;</i>. They know his
+prudence, his charity, his good sense; they know he loves them like a
+father; that he would not leave them for a bishopric&mdash;no, not for a
+cardinal's scarlet hat;&mdash;that as he has lived, so will he die with them:
+that is enough for them. Thus they consult him when they wish to form
+an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> opinion for themselves, much in the same way as a sportsman, anxious
+to take the field, looks up at the chanticleer on some village-steeple
+to know what he ought to think of the cloudy sky above; and when they
+see the good man sauntering past their cottages, with head erect and
+animated step, smiling, and evidently full of cheerful, charitable
+thoughts, and on good deeds intent, kissing the little children, giving
+a rosy apple to one, and a playful tap to another; offering a sly word
+of hope to the young girls, and a few kind ones to the aged and
+infirm,&mdash;all the village is elated; and the old maids fail not to
+present him with a fat fowl, or some such substantial expression of
+their respect. But if, alas! the good <i>cur&eacute;</i> should appear walking with
+a slow and solemn step, his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed upon
+the ground, and an anxious and thoughtful look upon his brow, his flock
+gaze at one another, and whisper in an under tone that something is
+amiss.</p>
+
+<p>At the epoch of political convulsions and revolutions, when systems and
+governments, men and ideas, arise and disappear, as if they went by
+steam,&mdash;when the authorities in the great towns wish to interfere with
+the police regulations and customs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> that govern the agricultural
+classes,&mdash;when they attempt to force them to gallop at full speed on the
+high road of progress as they call it, and that to attain this desirable
+end, handsome young men arrive from Paris in black coats and white
+neckcloths, furnished with a marvellous flow of eloquent sophisms,
+pretending to prove to the simple and honest peasants that in order to
+be more free, happy, and rich, they must, without further ado, kill,
+burn, and destroy,&mdash;the villagers, quite mystified, listen with open
+mouth; but as to understanding what the gentleman in black&mdash;the dark
+shadow of the government of progress&mdash;so glibly states, he might as well
+be talking Turkish or Japanese. Every one looks at <i>Monsieur le Cur&eacute;</i>,
+they scan his face, and ask him what they are to do; and let him only
+feel angry or disgusted with the wordy nonsense, and just make one sign,
+or raise one finger, and 1200&mdash;aye, 2000 men would in a trice surround
+him, and send the orator and all his staff to preach their pestilential
+doctrines under the turf, and this without more ceremony and remorse
+than if they were so many mad dogs. Poor fools! who think it possible to
+change a people in a few weeks, and imagine that a fine discourse from
+lips unknown and unloved will have a deeper effect upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> men's minds
+than the admonitions of a pastor, whose life has been without reproach,
+and adorned with every practical virtue.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the influence exercised in our rural districts by the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> is
+great, and this influence is well merited, for it is never abused&mdash;and
+never used unless for the benefit and happiness of the flock confided to
+their care. Without any motive of a personal nature, without ambition in
+any sense to which that word can apply, they preach the Catholic
+religion in all its simplicity, accepting and considering as brothers
+all those who really desire to follow the example of their Saviour
+Christ&mdash;all those who really love to do good; unworldly and unselfish,
+they would think themselves dishonoured, their reputation sullied, if
+the gown, which gives them in the eyes of the people a sacred character,
+served as a cloak, a pretext to cover a dishonourable or disgraceful
+action.</p>
+
+<p>It is also remarkable, and speaks volumes in their favour, that the
+bishops are almost always at war with these poor and self-denying
+<i>cur&eacute;s</i>, and would wish to see them take more interest in temporal
+affairs, which they do not in the least understand; they would fain put
+into their mouths the language<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> of anger and bitter feeling, alike
+foreign to their natures and the religion of their Divine master. The
+large proprietors also, those who live on their estates and do not press
+hard upon their dependants, enjoy great consideration, and share largely
+with the <i>cur&eacute;s</i> the hold they have on the affections of the people.
+They frequently direct the opinions of the masses, and, with the
+exception of their pastors, are the only class our rural population know
+and revere. As to the generality of our statesmen, good, bad, or
+indifferent, their names, brilliant as they may be, are not half so well
+known in our villages as that of the most obscure labourer, the humble
+artizan who knows how to file a saw or make a wheel.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is that gentleman, sir?" said a Morvinian of the plain to me one
+day, pointing to a tall thin man, with a bald head, and a pair of gold
+spectacles on his nose,&mdash;a notability of the legislative assembly who
+was going to step into the village tribune.</p>
+
+<p>"That gentleman?" I replied; "he is an orator."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! an orator: and pray what sort of a bird is that? what is he going
+to chirrup about?"</p>
+
+<p>"An orator is not a bird, my good fellow; he does not sing, he makes
+very fine speeches."</p>
+
+<p>"And what of them?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>"What of them? why they teach men their duty."</p>
+
+<p>"Their duty in what?" continued the peasant, with his pinching logic.
+"Is it the duty of a father, of a son, of a soldier, of a baker?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all; the duty of a citizen."</p>
+
+<p>"Citizen? I don't understand, sir," said the peasant.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, your political duties, if you like it better."</p>
+
+<p>"I am still none the wiser. And so this fine gentleman, with his yellow
+spectacles and bald head, is not going to tell us anything about crops,
+vineyards, planting, or sowing?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; but he will teach you your duty as a man, as a Frenchman, a
+citizen&mdash;a member of the great human family; he will teach you your
+rights; what you can and should demand of your government under the
+articles 199, 305, 1202, 9999 of the charter&mdash;the last charter."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I am ashamed to have troubled you; I thank you much for your
+explanation; I wish you a very good morning; for mathematics you see,
+sir, do send me to sleep, and our <i>cur&eacute;</i> will tell me all about it on
+Sunday. I shall go back to the forest, and finish my job of yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>And are not these simple-minded men much in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> right? is not all the
+good sense on their side?&mdash;they, who living by the axe, the plough, and
+the produce of the earth, think only of their trees and their fields,
+and ask of God but health and strength to work, rain and sun to nourish
+the vines and gild their harvests. They leave to those who possess their
+confidence, because they have never deceived them, the care of their
+political interests; the care of setting and keeping them in the right
+path, and of directing them in that current of life, slow it is true,
+but which nevertheless is more effectual towards ameliorating the
+condition, and eventually increasing the happiness of the human race,
+than all the new-fangled doctrines promulgated by the statesmen and
+philosophers of France.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The wolf&mdash;His aspect and extreme ferocity&mdash;His cunning in hunting
+his prey&mdash;His unsocial nature&mdash;Antiquity of the race&mdash;Where found,
+and their varieties&mdash;Annihilated in England by the perseverance of
+the kings and people&mdash;Decrees and rewards to encourage their
+destruction by Athelstane, John, and Edward I.&mdash;Death of the last
+wolf in England&mdash;Death of the last in Ireland. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">The</span> wild and furious wolf, both prudent and cowardly, is, from its
+strength and voracity, the terror and the most formidable pest of the
+inhabitants of those districts of France in which it is found. Provided
+by Nature with a craving appetite for blood, possessing great muscular
+powers, and an extraordinary scent, whether hunting or laying in ambush;
+always ready to pursue and tear its victim limb from limb, the
+wolf,&mdash;this tyrant,&mdash;this buccaneer of the forest lives only upon
+rapine, and loves nothing but carnage.</p>
+
+<p>The aspect of the wolf has something sinister and terrible in its
+appearance, which his sanguinary and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> brutal disposition does not belie.
+His head is large, his eyes sparkle with a diabolical and cannibal look,
+and in the night seem to burn like two yellow flames. His muzzle is
+black, his cheeks are hollow, the upper lip and chin white, the jaws and
+teeth are of prodigious strength, the ears short and straight, the tail
+tufty, the opening of the mouth large, and the neck so short that he is
+obliged to move his whole body in order to look on one side. His length
+in our forests, from the extreme point of the muzzle to the root of the
+tail, is generally about three feet; his height two and a half feet. The
+colour of his hair is black and red, mingled with white and gray; a
+thick and rude fur, on which the showers and severe cold of winter have
+no effect. The limbs of this animal are well set, his step is firm and
+quick, the muscles of the neck and fore part of the body are of unusual
+strength,&mdash;he will easily carry off a fat sheep in his mouth, without
+resting it on the ground, and run with it faster than the shepherd who
+flies to its rescue. His senses are delicate and sensitive in the
+extreme; that of smelling, as I have before remarked, particularly: he
+can scent his prey at an immense distance,&mdash;blood which is fresh and
+flowing will attract him at least a league from the spot. When he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+leaves the forest, he never forgets to stop on its verge; there turning
+round, he snuffs the breeze, plunges his nostrils deep into the passing
+wind, and receives through his wonderful instinct a knowledge of what is
+going on amongst the animals, dead or alive, that are in the
+neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>The declared and uncompromising enemy to almost everything that has
+life, the wolf attacks not only cows, oxen, horses, sheep, goats, and
+pigs, but also fowls and turkeys, and especially geese, for which he has
+a great fancy. In the woods also he destroys large quantities of game,
+such as fawns and roebucks; and even the wild boar himself, when young,
+is sometimes brought to his larder, for the wolf is one of that
+voracious tribe which professes a profound contempt for vegetable diet,
+and cannot do without flesh; hence the number of his devices for
+supplying his table and varying his bill of fare is astonishing. But
+mankind, it must be said in all justice, are not behindhand with him;
+they are always on the alert; they meet him with tricks as clever as his
+own, heap snare on snare to take him, and the result is that Mr. Lupus,
+in spite of his strength, his agility, his practical experience, and
+cunning instincts, often stretches out his limbs in death in the dark
+ravines<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> of the forest&mdash;the victim of his enemy's superior intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>Obliged during the day to hide himself in the most solitary parts of the
+woods, he finds there only those animals whose rapid flight enables them
+to escape his clutches. Sometimes, however, after the exercise of
+prodigious patience on his part, by lying in wait the whole day, at a
+spot where he knows they will be certain to pass when the sun goes down,
+a defenceless roebuck will occasionally fall into his jaws.</p>
+
+<p>This chance on the sly producing nothing, when night has set in he seeks
+the open country, approaches the farms, attacks the sheepfolds,
+scratches his way under the doors, and entering wild with rage, puts
+everything to death&mdash;for, to his infernal spirit, destruction is as
+great a pleasure as the satisfaction of his hunger.</p>
+
+<p>When the dogs growl in an under tone, when they are restless and
+agitated, and snuff the wind as it drives in eddies through the
+shutters, "The wolf is abroad," say the peasants.</p>
+
+<p>If these runs in the open country by the light of the moon afford no
+supper, he returns to the depths of his lair, or takes up the scent of
+some roebuck,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> tracks it like a hound, and though his hope is small
+indeed of ever catching it, he perseveringly follows the trail, trusting
+that some other wolf, famished like himself, will head the timid animal
+in its flight, and seize it as it passes, and that, like staunch
+friends, they will afterwards divide the spoil between them.</p>
+
+<p>But the reverse more often occurs,&mdash;and foiled and disappointed, he then
+becomes, though naturally a dastard and full of fear, absolutely
+courageous; the fire of hunger consumes his stomach, he fears nothing,
+and braves every danger; all prudence is forgotten, and his natural
+ferocity is wound up to such a pitch, that he hesitates not to meet
+certain destruction, attacks the animals that are actually under the
+care of man, man himself,&mdash;throws himself suddenly upon the poor
+benighted traveller, and gliding slowly and softly, with the stealthy
+movements of a serpent, seizes and carries off with him to the depth of
+the forest the infant sleeping in its cradle, or the little, helpless,
+innocent child which, ignorant of danger, laughs and plays at the
+cottage-door.</p>
+
+<p>Unsociable as well as savage, with a heart harder than the ball which
+drills the ghastly hole in his side, loving only himself and his dark
+solitudes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> the wolf never associates with its own kind; and when, by
+accident, it happens that a few are seen together, be sure the meeting
+is not a Peace Congress, or a party of pleasure. The assembled wolves
+represent a society of reds, preparing the arrangements for a combat, in
+which many a stream of blood shall flow, amidst the most fearful and
+horrible cries. If a wolf intends to attack a large animal,&mdash;for
+instance, an ox or a horse,&mdash;or if he desires to put a watch-dog, whose
+strength disquiets him, or whose vigilance incommodes him, out of his
+way, he roves about the lonely paths of the forest, raising a sharp
+prolonged cry, which immediately attracts other wolves in the
+neighbourhood; and when he finds himself surrounded by a numerous troop
+of his colleagues, bound together by no other tie than the common object
+they all have in view for the moment, he conducts them to the attack,
+and should the farmer be not there to out-man&#339;uvre them, it will be
+odd indeed if the animal that they have agreed to destroy does not fall
+a victim to their plans. The expedition over, the valiant brotherhood
+separate, and each returns in silence to his thicket, whence they emerge
+to reunite, when slaughter and blood call them forth again to make
+common cause.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p><p>Wolves attain their full size in three years, and live from fifteen to
+twenty; their hair, like that of man, grows gray with years, and like
+him also they lose their teeth, but without the advantage of being able
+to replace them; the race of wolves is as old as the flood,&mdash;even older,
+for their bones have been found in antediluvian remains. They are found
+in all countries on the New Continent as well as the Old. "They exist,"
+observes Cuvier, "in Asia, Africa, and America, as well as in Europe;
+from Egypt to Lapland; everywhere, in fact, excepting in England." How
+an animal so detestable and so universally hated should have continued
+to perpetuate itself, when every other species of savage beast on the
+face of the earth diminishes in an infinitely greater proportion, is a
+problem difficult to solve.</p>
+
+<p>Fourrier, in his "<i>Th&eacute;orie Harmonique et comparative des esp&egrave;ces</i>,"
+remarks truly, that each species of the human race corresponds with some
+species of the brute creation. The wolves in the forest represent the
+Jews in the towns; and he asserts, that it being possible only to
+compare the voracity of the one with the rapacity of the other, these
+two races, which are identical by reason of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> their several
+characteristics, will never perish, never become extinct, except
+together. But the Jews decline to acknowledge the relationship thus
+assumed and the paradoxical connexion between themselves and this race
+of animals; they deny that the idiosyncrasies are in any degree similar,
+and persist in placing this luminous idea of Fourrier's on a level with
+that of the sea of lemonade, which will, according to the same author,
+one day surround our planet.</p>
+
+<p>The bones and teeth of wolves are often discovered, as I have already
+said, amongst the <i>d&eacute;bris</i> of the antediluvian world.</p>
+
+<p>In the Holy Scriptures, too, there are several observations respecting
+the wolf,&mdash;in them it is stated that he lives upon rapine, is violent,
+cruel, bloody, crafty, and voracious; he seeks his prey by night, and
+his sense of smell is wonderful. False teachers are described as wolves
+in sheep's clothing; and the Prophet Habakkuk, speaking of the
+Chaldeans, says, "Their horses are more fierce than the evening wolves."
+And again, Isaiah, describing the peaceful reign of the Messiah,
+writes,&mdash;"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> the leopard
+shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the
+fatling together, and a little child shall lead them."</p>
+
+<p>The wolf varies in shape and colour, according to the country in which
+it lives. In Asia, towards Turkey, this animal is reddish; in Italy,
+quite red; in India, the one called the beriah is described as being of
+a light cinnamon colour; yellow wolves, with a short black mane along
+the entire spine, are found in the marshes of all the hot and temperate
+regions of America. The fur of the Mexican wolf is one of the richest
+and most valuable known. In the regions of the north the wolf is black,
+and sometimes black and gray: others are quite white; but the black wolf
+is always the fiercest. The black is also found in the south of Europe,
+and particularly in the Pyrennees. Colonel Hamilton Smith relates an
+anecdote illustrative of its great size and weight. At a <i>battue</i> in the
+mountains near Madrid, one of these wolves, which came bounding through
+the high grass towards an English gentleman who was present, was so
+large that he mistook it for a donkey; and whatever visions of a ride
+home might have floated across his brain for the moment, right glad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> was
+he on discovering his error, to see his ball take immediate effect.</p>
+
+<p>In former days, the Spanish wolves congregated in large packs in the
+passes of the Pyrennees; and even now the <i>lobo</i> will follow a string of
+mules, as soon as it becomes dusk, keeping parallel with them as they
+proceed, leaping from bush and rock, waiting his opportunity to select a
+victim. Black wolves also are found in the mountains of Friuli and
+Cattaro; the Vekvoturian wolf of Siberia, described by Pallas, is one of
+the darkest variety. In Persia and in India wolves are trained and made
+to play tricks and antics as monkeys and dogs are in Europe. At Teheran,
+Bankok, and Arracan, a well-trained wolf that can dance a polka of the
+country, sing a national air, and preserve a grave face during five
+minutes, with a pair of spectacles on his nose, will fetch as much as
+500 dollars.</p>
+
+<p>"In China," remarks Colonel Smith, "wolves abound in the northern
+province of Shantung;" and Buffon, quoting from Adanson, asserts, that
+"there is a powerful species of the wolf in Bengal, which hunt in packs,
+in company with the lion." "One night," says Adanson, "a lion and a wolf
+entered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> the court of the house in which I slept, and unperceived,
+carried off my provisions; in the morning my hosts were quite satisfied,
+from the well-marked and well-known impressions of their feet in the
+sand, that the animals had come together to forage." Colonel Smith
+observes, that "the French wolves are generally browner and somewhat
+stronger than those of Germany, with an appearance far more wild and
+savage: the Russian are larger, and seem more bulky and formidable, from
+the great quantity of long coarse hair that cover them on the neck and
+cheeks."</p>
+
+<p>"The Swedish and Norwegian are," he says, "similar to the Russian; but
+appear deeper and heavier in the shoulder; they are also lighter in
+colour, and in winter become completely white. The Alpine wolves are
+yellowish, and smaller than the French. This is the type of wolf that is
+commonly found in the western countries of Europe; and it was, in all
+probability, this species that once infested the wild and extensive
+woodland districts of the British Islands; for that wolves were once
+exceedingly numerous in England, is as certain as that the bear formerly
+prowled in Wales and Scotland, and with the former was the terror of the
+inhabitants. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> dangerous to them, and how very common they must have
+been, is evident from the necessity that existed in the reign of
+Athelstane, 925, for erecting on the public highway a refuge against
+their attacks. A retreat was built at Flixton, in Yorkshire, to protect
+travellers against these ravenous brutes. King John, in a grant quoted
+by Pennant, from Bishop Littleton's collection, mentions the wolf as one
+of the beasts of the chase that, despite the severe forest laws of the
+feudal system, the Devonshire men were permitted to kill. Even in the
+reign of the first Edward, they were still so numerous that he applied
+himself in earnest to their extirpation, and enlisting criminals into
+the service, commuted their punishment for a given number of wolves'
+tongues;&mdash;he also permitted the Welsh to redeem the tax he imposed upon
+them, by an annual tribute of 300 of these horrid animals."</p>
+
+<p>That Edward, however, failed in his attempt to extirpate them, is
+evident from a <i>mandamus</i> of that monarch's successor, to all bailiffs
+and legal officers of the realm, to give aid and assistance to his
+faithful and well-beloved Peter Corbet, whom the King had appointed to
+take and destroy wolves (<i>lupos</i>) in all forests, parks, and other
+places in the counties of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, and Salop,
+wherever they could be found. In Derbyshire, certain tenants of lands,
+at Wormhill, held them on condition that they should hunt the wolves
+that harboured in that county. The flocks of Scotland appear to have
+suffered a great deal from the ravages of wolves in 1577, and they were
+not finally rooted out of that portion of the island till about the year
+1686, when the hand of Sir Evan Cameron made the last of them bite the
+dust.</p>
+
+<p>Wolves were seen in Ireland as late as the year 1710, about which time
+the last presentment for killing them was found in the county of Cork.
+The Saxon name for the month of January, "wolf-moneth," in which dreary
+season the famished beasts became probably more desperate; and the term
+for an outlaw, "wolfshed," implying that he might be killed with as much
+impunity as a wolf, indicate how numerous wolves were in those times,
+and the terror and hatred they inspired. In every country the
+inhabitants have declared this ferocious brute the enemy of man; and in
+order, if possible, to annihilate him, have employed every device;&mdash;the
+result in England has been most satisfactory. The Esquimaux, that
+distant and half-frozen people, have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> their own peculiar way of trapping
+wolves; and it is somewhat singular that their ice wolf-trap, as
+described by Captain Lyon, resembles exactly, except in the material of
+which it is made, that of France, though it is very certain no Morvinian
+ever went so far as the Melville peninsula to take a hunting lesson from
+an Esquimaux. The very birds of prey, those flying thieves of the air,
+are used for wolf-hunting amongst some of the savage nations of the
+earth. The Kaissoks take them with the help of a large sort of hawk,
+called a <i>beskat</i>, which is trained to fly at and fasten on their heads,
+and tear their eyes out; and the Grand Khan of Tartary has eagles tamed
+and trained to the sport in the same way as we have our packs to hunt
+the roebuck and wild boar.</p>
+
+<p>In the sombre forests of the Nivernais and Burgundy, where wolves are
+still numerous, and where they occasion the farmers great loss by the
+destruction of their cattle, they are destroyed in every way imaginable.
+General <i>battues</i> are held, and private hunting parties meet, a
+multitude of traps set, pits dug, the sportsman and the peasant lie in
+wait for them, and dogs and cats, well stuffed with deadly poison, are
+placed near their haunts in the thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> underwood. Nevertheless, and in
+spite of all these crafty inventions and open war with them, the wolves
+scarcely diminish in number; they still present the same formidable
+phalanx, and seem determined to defy their destroyers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">The <i>battues</i> of May and December&mdash;The gathering of
+sportsmen&mdash;Distribution in the forest&mdash;The <i>charivari</i>&mdash;The fatal
+rush&mdash;Excitement of the moment&mdash;The volley&mdash;The day's triumph, and
+the reward&mdash;The peasants returning&mdash;Hunting the wolf with
+dogs&mdash;Cub-hunting&mdash;The drunken wolf. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">In</span> the first days of May, that interesting epoch in which in the forest,
+the woods, and the plain, the majority of all animals are with young;
+and in the commencement of December, the period of storm and tempest and
+the heavy rains, which precede the great snows, two general <i>battues</i>
+take place in Le Morvan. To these all the tribe of sportsmen&mdash;the good,
+the bad, and the indifferent&mdash;are invited; in short, every one in the
+neighbourhood who loves excitement attends. Gentlemen, poachers, and
+<i>gens-d'armes</i>, young conscripts and old soldiers, doctors and
+schoolmasters, every one who is the fortunate possessor of a gun, a
+carbine, a pistol, a sabre, a bayonet, or any other weapon, presents
+himself at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> the rendezvous. Bands of peasants, also, armed with
+bludgeons, spears, broomsticks, cymbals, bells, frying-pans, sauce-pans,
+and fire-irons (it is impossible to make too much noise on the
+occasion), arrive from every point of the compass, and add their numbers
+to those already assembled. On the day agreed upon, therefore, and at
+the spot indicated, a small army is on foot, which, full of ardour and
+thirsting for the combat, brandish with shouts their various weapons and
+kitchen utensils, drink to the success of the enterprise, and wait with
+no little impatience the signal to place themselves in march, and attack
+the enemy. The commander of these assembled forces,&mdash;generally the head
+ranger of the forest,&mdash;having under his orders a battalion of sub
+<i>gardes-de-chasse</i>, directs their movements.</p>
+
+<p>This mode of taking the wolf is conducted with very great order and
+circumspection; everything is well arranged beforehand; the ravines and
+deep underwood, which the wolves are known to resort to, have been
+carefully ascertained; the number of guns and rifles necessary to
+surround this or that wood are told off, and the whole plan is so well
+prepared, the execution of it is so prompt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> every one is so well aware
+of what he has to do, that in one day a large tract of country is
+carefully beaten.</p>
+
+<p>In these <i>battues</i>, those who have fire-arms form two sides of a
+triangle, and are placed with their backs to the wind, along the roads
+which border the wood the <i>traqueurs</i> are about to beat. On no account
+ought they to fire to their rear, but always to the front; and in order
+to prevent, in this respect, misunderstanding and accident, the <i>garde</i>,
+whose duty it is to place each sportsman at his post, breaks a branch,
+or cuts a notch in the tree before him, in order that in a moment of
+hesitation and excitement this broken bough or barked spot may remind
+him of his real position. The base of the triangle or the cord of the
+arc (for this curved line had more the shape of a great bow slightly
+strung than any other geometrical figure) is formed of the peasants,
+who, side by side, wait only for the last signal to advance, when they
+commence their euphonious concert&mdash;a <i>charivari</i> not to be described.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangements and preparations, conducted in profound silence, being
+terminated, the signal is given, when the tumult, which at once breaks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>
+forth, produces intense excitement. The forest, hitherto silent, and
+apparently without life, is suddenly awakened with confused noises,
+metallic and human&mdash;the peasants shout, halloo, sing, and bang together
+their pots, kettles, and pieces of iron, striking every bush and thicket
+with their staves, and scaring every animal before them. Flights of
+wood-pigeons, coveys of partridges, birds of every size, species, and
+plumage, pass like moving shadows above their heads. The owls, too,
+suddenly aroused from sleep, leave their dark holes, and, blinded by the
+light, fly against the branches in their alarm with cries of
+terror&mdash;probably imagining the order of night and day is reversed, and
+that the unusual and unearthly noises proclaim that the end of the world
+has arrived for the owls. Then come the roebuck and the foxes, bounding
+and breaking through the underwood, and the hares and rabbits, which
+jump up under the feet of the beaters.</p>
+
+<p>Motionless as a mile-stone at your post, and rifle ready, this flying
+legion of animals gives you a twinge of impatience, for you must allow
+them a free passage, as in these <i>battues</i> one dare not fire at
+anything, save and except the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> object of the day, the wolf. Wolves
+alone have the honour on these important occasions of receiving the
+contents of your double-barrel. But the cowards, divining what is in
+preparation for them, are the last to show themselves; as the line
+advances, they trot up and down the portion of the wood thus enclosed,
+seeking for an outlet, or some break in the line; and they never make up
+their minds to advance to the front until the tempest of sounds behind
+them is almost ringing in their ears. But now the thunder of voices,
+till then distant, approaches, and the cries and hallooing of the
+peasants, like a flowing tide, forces them to draw nearer to the
+huntsmen.</p>
+
+<p>Whether or no, that fatal line must now be passed, and the few minutes
+that precede the last movement of the wolves towards it brings to every
+sportsman sensations impossible to describe. He knows the brutes are in
+his rear, approaching, and a feeling like an electric current runs at
+this exciting moment from one to the other; every man's finger is on his
+trigger, his pulse throbs at a feverish pace, his heart beats like the
+clapper of a bell in full swing&mdash;all, to take a surer aim, kneel, or
+place their back against the nearest tree, and each offers up a prayer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>
+for aid to his patron saint. This nervous moment has sometimes such an
+effect upon ardent and excitable imaginations, that I have observed many
+young sportsmen look very queer, some actually tremble and one shed
+tears. But the <i>traqueurs</i> are at hand, and the largest and boldest of
+the wolves, placing themselves in front, are preparing for the fatal
+rush&mdash;one more <i>charivari</i> from the peasants and their sauce-pans
+decides them, when the whole troop bound forward, yelling and howling
+upon the line, in passing which a storm of balls and buck-shot salute
+and assail them in their course.</p>
+
+<p>The death of from thirty to forty wolves is generally the result of the
+day's exertions, without counting the wounded, which always escape in
+greater or less numbers. The Government give a reward of twenty francs
+for every wolf, and twenty-five for every she-wolf, and these sums being
+immediately divided amongst the peasants, they return to their homes not
+a little pleased, singing their old hunting ballads, stopping
+occasionally by the way at some village inn for a glass, where they may
+be seen cutting capers, with the true peasant notions of the dance. On a
+fine day, with the blue sky above, the forest breathing perfume, and the
+sun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> shedding over it its golden rays, the passing game, the distant
+halloo! of the <i>traqueurs</i>, the gun-shots which suddenly rattle around
+you, the watching for and first view of the wolves, put the head and the
+heart in such a state of excitement, as once felt can never be
+forgotten. The May and December <i>battues</i> are, therefore, looked forward
+to with immense impatience; and nothing short of sudden death, or an
+injured limb, prevents the country-people from hastening with alacrity
+to the rendezvous.</p>
+
+<p>Wolves are likewise hunted all the year round, with dogs, by gentlemen,
+in the neighbourhood of the forest. But this sport is very fatiguing and
+weary work, if that animal alone is employed; for nothing is so
+difficult as to get up with a cunning old wolf, whose sinewy limbs never
+tire, and whose wind never fails&mdash;who goes straight ahead, ten or
+fifteen miles, without looking behind him; if he meets with a <i>Mare</i>, or
+stream of water on his road, then your chance is indeed up,&mdash;for into it
+he plunges, and makes off again, quite as fresh as he was when he left
+his lair.</p>
+
+<p>The best and most expeditious mode of taking a wolf is, to set a
+bloodhound on him, bred expressly for this particular sport; large
+greyhounds being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> placed in ambush, at proper distances, and slipped,
+when the wolf makes his appearance in crossing from one wood to another.
+These dogs, by their superior swiftness, are soon at his haunches, and
+worry and impede his flight, until their heavy friend the hound comes
+up; for the strongest greyhound could never manage a wolf, unless he was
+assisted in his meritorious work by dogs of large size and superior
+strength. The huntsmen, well mounted, follow and halloo on the hounds;
+every one runs, every one shouts, the forest echoes their cries, and
+wolf, dogs, and sportsmen pass and disappear like leaves in a whirlwind,
+or the demon hounds and huntsmen of the Hartz. And now the panting
+beast, with hair on end and foaming at the mouth, bitten in every part,
+is brought to bay&mdash;his hour is come&mdash;no longer able to fly, he sets his
+back against some rock or tree, and faces his numerous enemies.</p>
+
+<p>It is then that the oldest huntsman of the party, in order to shorten
+his death-agony, and save the dogs from unnecessary wounds, dismounts,
+and, drawing a pistol from his hunting-belt, finishes his career before
+further mischief is done. When a ball hits a wolf and breaks one of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>
+bones, he immediately gives a yell; but if he is dispatched with sticks
+and bludgeons, he makes no complaint. Stubborn, and apparently either
+insensible or resolute, Nature seems to have given him great powers of
+endurance in suffering pain. Having lost all hope of escape, he ceases
+to cry and complain; he remains on the defensive, bites in silence, and
+dies as he has lived. In a sheepfold the noise of his teeth while
+indulging his appetite is like the repeated crack of a whip. His bite is
+terrible.</p>
+
+<p>The months of September and October, the period for cub-hunting, afford
+capital sport. The young wolves are not like the old ones, strong enough
+to take a straight course, and they consequently can rarely do more than
+run a ring; when tired, which is soon the case, they retire backwards
+into some hole or under a large stone, where they show their teeth and
+await, with a juvenile courage worthy of a better fate, the onset of
+their assailants. The mode of separating the cubs from their mother,
+who, with maternal tenderness (for that feeling exists even in a wolf),
+always offers to sacrifice her life for her young, is by turning loose
+two or three bloodhounds. These first distract her attention, and then
+pursue her so closely that at last she thinks it prudent to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> decamp, and
+seek safety in flight; when these dogs have fairly got her away, and
+their deep music dies away in the distance, others are laid on the scent
+of the cubs, and the sport ceases only with the death of the litter. A
+young wolf may be tamed; but it is not wise to place much confidence in
+his civilization: with age he resumes his nature, becomes ferocious, and
+sooner or later, should the occasion present itself, will return to his
+native woods;&mdash;for as water always flows towards the river, so the wolf
+always returns to his kind.</p>
+
+<p>In the summer, the wolves, like the gypsies, have no fixed residence;
+they may then be met with in the standing barley or oats, the vineyards
+and fields; they sleep in the open country, and seldom seek the friendly
+shelter of the forest, except during the most scorching hours of the
+day. Towards the end of August I have often met them in the vineyards,
+apparently half drunk, scarcely able to walk, in short, quite unsteady
+on their legs, almost ploughing the ground up with their noses, and
+staring stupidly about them. Every well-kept vineyard ought to be as
+free from stones as possible, and therefore the peasants, when they
+weed, dig a trench about the vines, or prune them, always remove at the
+same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> time whatever stones or flints they may meet with; these are piled
+at the end of the vineyard in a heap of about twenty feet square and six
+feet high, called a <i>meurger</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On these <i>meurgers</i> the breezes of summer waft every description of
+seed, and they are consequently soon covered with verdure, shrubs,
+brambles, and wild roses, which from a distance give them the appearance
+of a small copse or thicket. These elevated and shady spots are the
+favourite retreats of game in the middle of the day; here they love to
+repose and take their <i>siesta</i> in the cool&mdash;here the red partridges meet
+to have a gossip&mdash;hither the young rabbits scuttle to recover their
+various alarms, and the trembling hare also squats and conceals herself
+the moment a dog or a gun appears in the adjoining vineyard. Of course
+these green mounds have a corresponding value in the eyes of the
+sportsmen, who always find in them something to put up.</p>
+
+<p>Often, therefore, walking gently on the soft ground, have I stolen to
+one of these <i>meurgers</i>, and throwing in a stone, generally turned out
+some partridges and rabbits that were there quietly ensconced; I have
+also, and greatly to my surprise, heard there the growl of a wolf,
+which, rising lazily amongst<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> the bushes, stumbled and fell, and was
+evidently incapable of getting further. A salute from both barrels, with
+small shot, scarcely tickled his skin; but it brought him once more on
+his legs, though only to fall again,&mdash;when, having reloaded, I advanced
+on him and administered a double dose in his ear, which had the desired
+effect. The fact was, he was quite drunk, though not disorderly.</p>
+
+<p>These wolves, during the ardent heats of August, suffer dreadfully from
+thirst; and finding no water, take to the vineyards, and endeavour to
+assuage it by eating large quantities of grapes, very cool, and no doubt
+very delightful at the time; but the treacherous juice ferments,
+Bacchanalian fumes soon infect their brain, and for several hours these
+gentlemen are for a time entirely deprived of their senses. What a field
+for Father Mathew; but never, I am certain, has the worthy Apostle of
+Temperance ever dreamed of offering the pledge to the wolves of Le
+Morvan&mdash;the rub would be to hang the medal round the necks of these
+Bacchanals of the forest.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement&mdash;The <i>Traquenard</i>&mdash;Mode of
+setting this trap&mdash;A night in the forest with Navarre&mdash;The young
+lover&mdash;Dreadful accident that befell him&mdash;His courage and efforts
+to escape&mdash;The fatal catastrophe&mdash;The poor mad mother. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Wolf-hunting</span> in the forests is an expensive amusement, whether they are
+killed by the method I have described,&mdash;namely, of employing beaters,
+and shooting them when breaking through the line of sportsmen, or
+running them down with dogs. The peasants and <i>traqueurs</i> have to be
+paid, in the first case; hunters and hounds have to be purchased and
+maintained, in the second, without counting the innumerable incidental
+expenses which a kennel of hounds always brings in its train. This kind
+of establishment is too extravagant for our country-gentlemen, and thus
+it is that for one wolf killed in the great meetings, or with the dogs,
+thirty are taken in pits and snares, or by some species of stratagem.</p>
+
+<p>Every small farmer or large proprietor, to protect his family and his
+cattle,&mdash;every shepherd, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> protect himself and his flock, invokes to
+his aid the genius of strategy; and as the mind of man is a sponge full
+of expedients, from which once pressed by the hard fingers of necessity
+many an ingenious device is extracted, innumerable are the various
+seductive baits that in our plains and forests are placed in the way of
+the gluttonous appetite of the wolf; and I shall now describe the
+inventions that are more generally adopted.</p>
+
+<p>The favourite trap employed in Le Morvan is the <i>Traquenard</i>. This is
+the most dangerous, and the strongest that is made, requiring two men to
+set it; it has springs of great power, which once touched, the jaws of
+the trap close with tremendous force. Each jaw, formed of a circle of
+iron, four or five feet in circumference, is furnished along its whole
+length with teeth shaped like those of a saw, but less sharp, which shut
+one within the other. To these redoubtable engines of destruction is
+attached an iron chain, six feet in length, and at the other end of it
+is a bar of iron with hooks; these hooks or grapnel, which catch at
+everything that comes in their way, impede the escape of the wolf when
+once seized, and prevent him from going any great distance from the spot
+where he has been caught. The trap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> should not be tied or fixed in any
+way, for then the wolf would probably in his first bound, his first
+frantic movement of terror, either break some part of it, or in his
+violent endeavours to escape, succeed, only leaving a leg behind him.</p>
+
+<p>In placing the trap and chain, a little earth is taken away, so that
+both are on a level with the turf; after which, the jaws being opened,
+they are covered with leaves in as natural a manner as possible. Great
+care must be taken by the person who sets the trap that he does not
+touch it with his naked hand; this should invariably be done with a
+glove on, otherwise the wolf&mdash;always extremely difficult to catch by
+reason of his delicate sense of smell&mdash;would be awakened to his danger.
+The mode of taking the wolf by means of the <i>Traquenard</i>, is as
+follows:&mdash;A spot having been selected in the depths of the forest, and
+in a sombre pathway unfrequented by the beasts of prey, the trap is set
+about an hour before the sun goes down, and a dog, young pig, a sheep,
+or some other animal which has been dead a few days, is divided into
+five parts; one of the portions is suspended to the lower branch of the
+tree, under which the trap is set; and the other four, being each
+attached to a withe or the band of a faggot,&mdash;not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> rope, for in that the
+wolf detects the hand of man, and he hates the smell of the
+material,&mdash;are drawn by men along the ground in the direction of the
+four points of the compass. These men are mounted either on horseback,
+or on an ass, or they put on a pair of <i>sabots</i> and walk, each of them
+dragging after him, through the wood and along the unfrequented paths,
+his portion of the bait, stopping every now and then to let the soil
+over which it passes be as much as possible impregnated with the smell
+of the flesh on the verge of corruption.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>traineur</i> should always walk as much as possible through those
+parts of the forest that are the clearest of underwood, for in these
+spots the wolf is least on his guard; and when he has thus traversed
+from 2,500 to 3,000 paces&mdash;the distance required in order to give the
+animal, (who will at first follow his track with caution and even
+suspicion,) time to regain his confidence&mdash;he stops, throws the bait
+over his shoulder, and walks home, leaving the result to chance, and the
+hunger of the savage game. When four or five other traps have been set
+for the same night, in a radius of three or four miles thus prepared, it
+rarely happens that some of these various lines&mdash;which intersect each
+other on every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> side and in every direction, taking in a considerable
+surface of ground&mdash;are not hit upon during the night by the roving
+wolves: and be sure that each wolf whose olfactories discern the scented
+line, and who at length arrives at the trap, is a wolf taken.</p>
+
+<p>Well do I remember the fever of impatience with which I was seized, the
+first time I was present at the preparations for this sport, and the
+desire I had to know what would be the result of our machinations; so
+much so, indeed, that the arrangement being completed, I positively
+refused to return to the <i>ch&acirc;teau</i>;&mdash;climbing into a thick tree, distant
+about a hundred paces from the trap, I passed the whole night there on
+the watch, shivering in my jacket, sitting astride upon one branch, my
+feet on another, and Navarre at my side. Poor Navarre! he had in the
+beginning of the evening brought all his astronomical knowledge to bear
+upon me, with a view of proving that the night would be terribly
+unwholesome; that we should have a furious hurricane and be deluged with
+rain, blinded by the lightning, and terrified by the thunder; and that,
+in the way of eating and a cordial, the only thing he had in his
+game-bag was a sorry piece of black bread, hard enough to break the
+tooth of a boar. I had a stiff tustle with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> him before he gave in; but
+finding he could not damp the burning curiosity which devoured me, and
+that my ears were deaf to the somewhat rough music of his reasoning and
+his predictions, the worthy man at length closed the fountain of his
+eloquence, and, though growling and mumbling in an under tone at my
+juvenile obstinacy, which had deprived him of his bed and his supper,
+quietly took his seat in the tree; then drawing from the bottom of his
+pocket some tobacco and a short pipe&mdash;his consolation in his greatest
+misfortunes&mdash;he whiffed away, burying his irritated countenance in his
+breast by way of showing his vexation.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me but yesterday these eight hours passed in the forest in
+the silence of that starlight night, hid in the branches, and waiting
+for the wolves! We caught three, and nine galloped under the very oak in
+which we were seated. This midnight scene was exciting beyond
+description; and the worthy Navarre, notwithstanding his pipe, his
+fox-skin cap, and his goat-skin riding-coat, caught such a melancholy
+cold, that he did nothing but sneeze and hoop the whole of the next day,
+making more noise than all the dogs and cattle in the farm put together.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>Wolf-hunting with traps has its dangers and its inconveniences, and the
+<i>Traquenard</i> must be used with great caution. Every morning it should be
+visited and shut; otherwise a man, a horse, a dog, or some other animal,
+may fall into it, and be taken. In order, therefore, as much as possible
+to prevent accidents, our peasants, farmers, and poachers, when using
+this kind of trap, always tie stones, or little pieces of dead wood, to
+the bushes and branches of the trees near the spot in which it is set;
+they likewise place the same kind of signal at the extremity of the
+pathway which leads to the trap, as a warning to those who may walk that
+way; and the peasants, who know what these signals dancing in the air
+with every puff of wind mean, turn aside, and take very good care how
+they proceed on their road.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all these precautions, however, very sad occurrences will
+sometimes happen in our forests. Some years ago a trap was placed in a
+deserted footway, and the usual precautions were taken of hanging stones
+and bits of wood in the approach to the path at either end. The same
+day, a young man of the neighbourhood, full of love and imprudence&mdash;upon
+the eve, in fact, of being entangled in the conjugal "I will"&mdash;anxious
+to present to his <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> turtle-doves and pigeons with rosy
+beaks, with whose whereabouts he was acquainted, left his home a little
+before sunset to surprise the birds on their nest; but he was late, the
+night closed in rapidly, and with the intention of shortening the road,
+instead of following the beaten one he took his way across the forest.
+Without in the least heeding the brambles and bushes which caught his
+legs, or the ditches and streams he was obliged to cross, he pressed on;
+and after a continued and sanguinary battle with the thorns, the stumps,
+the roots, and the long wild roses, came exactly on the path where the
+trap was set. The night was now nearly dark, and, in his agitation and
+hurry, thinking only of his doves and the loved one, he failed to
+observe that several little pieces of string were swinging to and fro in
+the breeze from the branches of a thicket near him. Dreadful indeed was
+it for him that he did not; for suddenly he felt a terrible shock,
+accompanied by most intense pain, the bones of his leg being apparently
+crushed to pieces&mdash;he was caught in the wolf-trap!</p>
+
+<p>The first few moments of pain and suffering over, comprehending at once
+the danger of his position, he with great presence of mind collected all
+the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> strength he had, and by a determined effort endeavoured to open the
+serrated iron jaws which held him fast: but though despair is said to
+double the strength of a man, the trap refused to give up its prey; and
+as at the least movement the iron teeth buried themselves deeper and
+deeper with agonizing pain into his leg, and grated nearly on the bone,
+his sufferings became so intense that in a very few minutes he ceased
+from making any further attempts to release himself. Feeling this to be
+the case, he began to shout for help, but no one replied; and as the
+night drew in he was silent, fearing that his cries would attract the
+notice of some of the wolves that might be prowling in the
+neighbourhood, and resolved to wait patiently and with fortitude what
+fate willed&mdash;what he could not avert. He had under his coat a little
+hatchet, a weapon which the Morvinians constantly carry about with them,
+and thus in the event of his being attacked by the dreaded animals, he
+trusted to it to defend himself; but he was still not without hope that
+the wolves would not make their appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The night lengthened; the moon rose, and shed her pale light over the
+forest. Immovable, with eyes and ears on the <i>qui vive</i>, his body in the
+most dreadful agony, he listened and waited: when, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> at once,
+far&mdash;very far off, a confused murmur of indistinct sounds was heard.
+Approaching with rapidity, these murmurs became cries and yells; they
+were those of wolves&mdash;and not only wolves, but wolves on the track,
+which must ere a few minutes could elapse be upon him. A pang of horror,
+and a cold perspiration poured from his face;&mdash;but fear was not a part
+of his nature, and by almost superhuman efforts, and, in such an awful
+moment, forgetting all pain, he dragged himself and the trap towards an
+oak tree, against which he placed his back.</p>
+
+<p>Here leaning with his left hand upon a stout staff he had with him when
+he fell, and having in his right his hatchet ready to strike, the young
+man, full of courage, after having offered up a short prayer to his God,
+and embraced, as it were, in his mind his poor old mother and his bride,
+awaited the horrible result, determined to show himself a true child of
+the forest, and meet his fate like a man. A few minutes more, and he was
+as if surrounded by a cordon of yellow flames, which, like so many
+Will-o'-the-wisps, danced about in all directions. These were the eyes
+of the monsters; the animals themselves, which he could not see, sent
+forth their horrible yells full in his face, and the smell of their
+horrid carcases<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> was borne to him on the wind. Alas! the <i>denou&eacute;ment</i> of
+the tragedy approached. The wolves had hit upon the scented line of
+earth, and following it; hungry and enraged, were bounding here and
+there, and exciting each other. They had arrived at the baited spot....</p>
+
+<p>What passed after this no one can tell&mdash;no eye saw but His above: but on
+the following morning when the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin, for he was the unfortunate
+person who set the <i>Traquenard</i>, came to examine it, he found the trap
+at the foot of the oak deluged with blood, the bone of a human leg
+upright between the iron teeth, and all around, scattered about the turf
+and the path, a quantity of human remains: bits of hair, bones,&mdash;red and
+moist, as if the flesh had been but recently torn from them,&mdash;shreds of
+a coat, and other articles of clothing were also discovered near the
+spot; with the assistance of some dogs that were put on the scent, three
+wolves, their heads and bodies cut open with a hatchet, were found dying
+in the adjacent thickets. The bones of their victim were carried to the
+nearest church; and on the following day these mournful fragments, which
+had only a few hours before been full of life and youth and health, were
+committed to the earth.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p><p>When the venerated <i>cur&eacute;</i> of the village, after previously endeavouring
+in every possible way by Christian exhortation to prepare his aged
+mother to hear the sad tale, informed her that these remnants of
+humanity was all that was left of her boy, she laughed&mdash;alas! it was the
+laugh of madness&mdash;reason had fled! Many a time have I met the aged
+creature strolling in a glade of the forest, or seated basking in the
+sun outside the door of her cottage. Her complexion was of the yellow
+paleness of some old parchment, she was always laughing and
+singing&mdash;always rocking in her arms a log of wood, a hank of hemp, or
+bundle of fern&mdash;objects which to her poor crazy eyes represented her
+child;&mdash;her child as it was in its tender years: she called it by his
+name, she kissed, embraced and dandled it, rocked it on her knees; and
+when she thought it should be tired, sang those lullabies which had
+soothed the slumbers of him who was now no more. I have witnessed the
+horrors of war, I have heard many a tragic story, but never has my heart
+been more touched with feelings of profound grief than the day on which
+I first met this poor creature&mdash;this widowed mother, then seventy years
+of age&mdash;singing and walking in the forest, carrying and dandling in her
+shrivelled arms a shawl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> rolled up; kissing and talking to the silent
+bundle, smiling on it,&mdash;sitting at the foot of a tree, and opening that
+bosom in which the springs of life had for years been dried, to nurse
+and nourish once more what seemed to her still her baby boy.</p>
+
+<p>The morning after the dreadful catastrophe of which I have just spoken,
+the path in which this terrible tragedy took place was closed, and trees
+were planted along its length, so that no person could in future pass
+that way. But the P&egrave;re S&eacute;guin has often shown me the oak, at the foot of
+which during that fearful night the young peasant suffered such agonies,
+made such incredible efforts, and drew with such indomitable courage his
+last breath. This tree is still called by the peasants, "The Widow's
+Oak," or, "The Oak of the Wolves."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Shooting wolves in the summer&mdash;The most approved baits to attract
+them&mdash;Fatal error&mdash;Hut-shooting&mdash;Silent joviality&mdash;The approach of
+the wolves&mdash;The first volley&mdash;The retreat&mdash;The final slaughter&mdash;The
+sportsman's reward&mdash;The farm-yard near St. Hibaut&mdash;The dead
+colt&mdash;The onset&mdash;Scene in the morning&mdash;Horrible accident&mdash;The
+gallant farmer&mdash;Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant&mdash;The
+wolf-skin drum&mdash;Anathema of the naturalists. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">When</span> the sportsman does not absolutely care about sleeping in his own
+bed, and will not be denied the pleasure of shooting a wolf himself, a
+drag is run similar to those we have already mentioned, but other parts
+of the proceedings are conducted in a manner widely different. In the
+first place, there is no trap; then, instead of the piece of flesh, the
+great attraction, being put in an obscure and hidden path, it should, on
+the contrary, be placed in an open spot, on the border of a wood, in a
+glade, or in a field on the verge of the forest, in order that the
+sportsman who is laying in wait, in ambush, may be able to see what is
+passing; he must, too, conceal himself as much as possible, either in a
+thicket under the foliage, in a hut made with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> the boughs of trees, or
+in a hole dug in the ground; but he should always be so placed that he
+is against the wind, and if the moon is up he ought to take especial
+care that he is in the shade.</p>
+
+<p>But it sometimes happens that the sportsman, at a moment when there is
+no time to run a drag,&mdash;for instance, after dinner when smoking a cigar,
+he suddenly takes it into his head to kill a wolf, and it is too late to
+bait the spot; nevertheless the hunter will have nothing less than his
+wolf. Before leaving home, therefore, he orders his servant to bring him
+a duck; this he puts into his pocket, and shouldering his gun, seeks the
+depths of the forest alone. Having found a favourable spot,&mdash;a place
+where four roads meet is that, if possible, generally chosen,&mdash;he hangs
+the unfortunate duck by the leg to the branch of a neighbouring tree,
+which, as if divining the part that he is intended to play in the piece,
+flaps his wings, and begins to cry and quack most vehemently.</p>
+
+<p>Extraordinary as it may appear, it is well known that the cries of the
+duck and the goose are those most readily heard by a wolf, and
+consequently it is by no means a rare occurrence to see one of these
+animals arrive. An unweaned lamb, which is always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> bleating for its
+mother, is also an excellent decoy-bait to attract them.</p>
+
+<p>In the months of May and June, when the sportsman happens to tumble upon
+a she-wolf, the cubs of which are suckling, a drag may be run with one
+of them; the mother will for certain follow the track, and, if you are
+not properly on your guard, and well prepared to receive her, it is
+equally certain she will play you a very unpleasant trick, and make you
+feel that it is not wise to excite the maternal tenderness of a wild
+animal. But it is in winter that the wolves are more especially
+dangerous, and it is in this rough season that war to the knife is
+declared against them. The peasants, as well the wood-cutters and
+charcoal-burners of the forest, having then no employment, assemble in
+small bands, furnish themselves with provisions for several days, and
+armed with ponderous and clumsy fowling-pieces, go in search of the wild
+cat and the wolf, the roebuck and the boar.</p>
+
+<p>On these occasions, as in all those where fire-arms are used, the
+chapter of accidents is seldom without a page relating some sad history.
+Two young men of the village of Akin, near Vezelay, one of whom was
+engaged to the sister of his companion, having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> made their arrangements,
+set out to hunt together in this manner, trusting that a heavy bag might
+pay for the expenses of the wedding f&ecirc;te. As luck would have it, they
+soon fell upon the traces of a boar, and separating at the entrance of a
+dark ravine, to beat for and watch the animal, were lost to view. But a
+short time had elapsed when the young man who was about to be married
+observing, though not clearly, between the trees and bushes a large
+black mass, which moved to and fro, and which he imagined was the boar
+listening, brought his gun to his shoulder, and, firing, lodged two iron
+slugs in the body of his comrade, who, advancing towards him, his
+shoulders being covered with a black sheepskin, had stooped down for a
+few seconds to tie the strings of his leggings, or his shoes.</p>
+
+<p>When the trees are devoid of foliage and the snow covers the ground,
+when the forest is melancholy and cold, and the wolves famished with
+hunger, a rather original mode of taking them by night is adopted. A few
+days previously to the one appointed for the purpose, a large glade in
+the very thickest part of the forest having been selected, a carpenter
+and his assistant, with a well-furnished bag of tools, start for the
+spot. There, choosing some suitable trees,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> or branches of young
+pollards, they cut down a sufficient number, place them in the ground so
+as to form a hut of twelve yards square, leaving between each tree an
+interval of about four inches; strengthening the edifice by beams at the
+base, and boards nailed transversely seven feet from the ground.</p>
+
+<p>This open hut thus prepared, and which, at fifty paces distance, ought
+not, if well constructed, to be distinguishable from the trees, is left
+open to the inspection of the beasts of the forest for several nights in
+succession, in order that they, always suspicious of the most trifling
+circumstance, may get accustomed to it. Two or three ducks, a goose, and
+sometimes a sheep, are fastened during these nights near the hut, with a
+view of alluring the wolves and inducing them to visit the mansion.</p>
+
+<p>The day, or rather the appointed evening, having arrived (a star or
+moonlight night being selected), the assembled huntsmen, and a long line
+of servants, betake themselves to the forest, leading by the head four
+calves, and carrying with them a cask of cold meat, a hamper of wine, a
+box of cigars, and a horse-load of pale <i>cogniac</i>&mdash;a few camels and
+dromedaries added to this cavalcade, and one would have a complete
+picture of a tribe of Bedouins preparing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> pass the Great Desert.
+Arrived in the forest about nightfall, and well and duly shut up in
+their Gibraltar of wood, the sportsmen may eat, drink, and smoke, and
+converse in an undertone; but a heavy fine is invariably inflicted on
+those who make the least noise. No one is permitted to sneeze, talk
+loud, or laugh; as to blowing one's nasal organ vigorously, the thing is
+absolutely forbidden; no one is allowed to have a cold, much less an
+influenza, for at least eight hours, and every sportsman is careful that
+the wine and the viands take each their proper line of road; if either
+should unfortunately diverge, the gentleman must choke rather than
+cough&mdash;as to the servants, they do every thing by gesture and signal;
+and woe betide the John that speaks&mdash;chance may be, his tongue is thrown
+to the wolves.</p>
+
+<p>When night has set in, the four calves are led out from the stockade and
+fastened to strong posts which have been fixed in front of each face of
+the hut. Silence now reigns supreme, and the wolves,&mdash;the spur of famine
+in their insides, mad in short with hunger,&mdash;begin to sniff the breeze
+and run their noses over the rank dewy grass of the underwood. At this
+point of my narrative I must bespeak the forbearance of the Society for
+the Prevention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> of Cruelty to Animals, and beg them to read on to the
+end, and weigh well the question and the result, before they bring an
+action against me for what follows. The calves in question having been
+placed, they each&mdash;must I write it?&mdash;receive an incision in the neck,
+the effect of which is that the blood flows slowly, and they bleat
+without ceasing;&mdash;such is the custom, as it is said, with butchers to
+make veal white and pleasing to the eye of the epicure; a really inhuman
+habit&mdash;but when the deed is done with a view to the extermination of
+wolves, I think there is little doubt but Mr. Martin himself would have
+used a fleam in the cause.</p>
+
+<p>This operation over, the sportsmen divide, post themselves, with their
+guns ready, on each side of the hut, and wait with beating hearts the
+arrival of the expected four-footed visitors. Nine o'clock passes&mdash;ten,
+half-past&mdash;not a sound is heard in the forest; the sportsmen who look
+out on the snowy scene around them observe nothing; all without is
+dreary silence, broken at intervals by the poor ruminating creatures in
+front, the cry of a solitary owl, the fall of some dead branch which age
+and the tempest has separated from the giant oak, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> sudden spring of
+the squirrel awakened by the noise, and, in the interior of the cabin,
+by the soft gurgling of the ruby wine escaping joyfully from its glass
+prison-house, to cheer the heart of the impatient <i>chasseur</i>&mdash;and who
+knows better than he how to empty a flask of genuine Burgundy?</p>
+
+<p>We will, therefore, imagine some of the party enjoying themselves after
+this fashion; when suddenly the calves are heard to rise, to bellow and
+groan, strain at the ropes with which they are fastened, and endeavour
+to escape; every cigar is at once extinguished, the comic changes to the
+serious&mdash;the wolves are on the scent. A few minutes more, and black
+spots are seen dotted about here and there on the snow; these increase
+in number and approach,&mdash;they are the wolves that observe and listen;
+the frantic terror of the calves is redoubled; the black spots become
+larger, they advance still nearer, and at length the animals may clearly
+be distinguished. The wolves imagine the calves have come astray. What a
+charming thing if they could carry them off to the dark ravines they
+inhabit! The great square hut, silent as Harpocrates, and the smell of
+man, make them hesitate; but a hunger of many days (and we know that
+man, the image<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> of his Maker, will eat man, his fellow, in his
+extremity) and the smell of blood prevail and overcome their fears. Four
+or five wolves rush forward, and endeavour to remove the calves; the
+attempt is vain, the ropes are strong, and so are the posts to which the
+animals are fastened: unable, therefore, to succeed, and stretched
+across their dying victims, they plunge their ravenous jaws into the
+palpitating flesh, forget their alarm in so delicious a supper, and eat
+and drink to their heart's content. The rest of the pack thus
+encouraged, and afraid of being too late, now advance at a gallop to
+share in the repast.</p>
+
+<p>It is then, and amid the yells, the disputes, and the bloody encounters
+occasioned by a division of the spoil, that the sportsmen open their
+fire. The first volley puts the wolves to flight, and they retire to a
+short distance. But again all is silent, they soon return to the
+carcases they cannot make up their minds to desert; other wolves also,
+that have been in the rear, attracted by the cries and smell of their
+wounded companions, and the blood of the calves, arrive and take part in
+the strife, so that during several hours the forest echoes with repeated
+volleys. At length the calves are fairly eaten up, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> the fortunate
+survivors of the fray, gorged and satiated, take to flight, and
+disappear like a band of black demons into the recesses of the forest.
+It is then the sportsmen leave their hut, stretch their limbs, count the
+dead, dispatch their wounded enemies, and, clothed in thick fur cloaks,
+sit as if at the bivouac round a large fire, passing the remaining hours
+of the night in emptying more bottles, excavating more pies, drinking
+more punch, and telling better stories than those which I have had the
+pleasure of laying before the reader.</p>
+
+<p>The morning has scarcely dawned and the party is on the road home, when
+a crowd of peasants arrive with their dogs, who, following the bloody
+traces of the wolves in the snow, dispatch those which, though wounded,
+have been able to leave the spot&mdash;for the sight of a dead wolf is to a
+Morvinian as delightful as the possession of one is profitable. Having
+killed his ferocious enemy, the peasant cuts off his head and his four
+feet, which he fastens crosswise at the end of his staff; then arraying
+himself in his best and most showy clothes, his hat ornamented with
+flowers and ribbons streaming in the breeze, like those in the cap of an
+English recruit, he is off, the left foot foremost, to the mayor of his
+parish to receive the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> reward offered by the government. But his road to
+his worship is anything but direct; he performs what he terms the grand
+tour, visits every village in his way, makes his bow to the women, calls
+at the sheep-farms and the <i>chate&acirc;ux</i>, showing, with no little pride and
+exultation, his wolf's head, and receives at each some acknowledgment
+for the service he has rendered the community,&mdash;money, a dozen of eggs,
+a pound of lard, a bit of pork, bread, flour, flax, or salt, &amp;c. He who
+kills the wolf, and carries the spoils as a trophy in this manner, is
+accompanied by the musician of the neighbourhood, who marches before him
+blowing his bagpipe with the force of an ox; behind him is one of the
+strongest men of the village, with a large bag on each shoulder, who
+carries the presents, and imitates the cry and yells of a wolf when the
+piper is tired. It will not therefore be considered astonishing if it is
+always with renewed pleasure that a peasant of Le Morvan kills a wolf;
+and though one becomes tired, <i>blaz&eacute;</i> with almost everything in this
+mortal world, it is not the case when a gallant fellow is seen entering
+a village carrying the head of this hideous monster on his pole. This
+trophy, with tongue distended and mouth kept wide open by a piece of
+wood to show his long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> yellow teeth, frightens all the little children
+that see it.</p>
+
+<p>There are many other methods of taking the wolf, with a hook, a net,
+with tame she-wolves <i>&agrave; la loge</i>, the poacher's method, in pits, and in
+a washing-tub by the side of a pond, &amp;c. But a description of these
+several modes would occupy too much space. I cannot, however, before
+taking a final leave of this subject, resist the temptation to relate
+one last and most fearful incident&mdash;a frightful illustration of the
+horrors to which a country infested by this animal is liable. It
+happened during my sojourn at St. Hibaut, at a farm in that
+neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the month of February, the winter was exceedingly severe, and
+three feet of snow still covered the mountains; all communication
+between the villages had ceased, and bands of hungry wolves besieged the
+farms in the heart of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>The forest of La Madeleine, particularly full of ravines and dark
+thickets, small hamlets, and solitary houses, was overrun with these
+insatiable and remorseless brutes. Travellers had been devoured in the
+passes of La Goulotte, and mangled and torn in the ravines of Lingou. No
+one dared venture into the country when night approached.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p><p>The farm of which I am about to speak stands just on the borders of the
+forest of La Madeleine, in the midst of pastures and patches of furze;
+it was full of cattle and sheep, and by the time the stars were
+brilliantly illuminating the dark arch of heaven, was frequently
+surrounded by troops of wolves, scratching under the walls, and loudly
+demanding the trifling alms of a horse, an ox, or a man. It so happened
+that at this time one of the farmer's colts died, and he determined, if
+possible, to use it as a bait, which would provide him the opportunity
+of destroying some of his nocturnal visitors.</p>
+
+<p>For this purpose he placed the dead body in the middle of his
+court-yard, and having fastened weights to its neck and legs, to prevent
+the wolves from dragging it away, he set the principal gate open, but so
+arranged with cords and pulleys that it could be closed at any required
+moment. Night came on; the house was shut up, the candles extinguished,
+the stables barricaded, the dogs brought in-doors and muzzled to prevent
+them from barking, and, in the bright starlight, on some clean straw,
+the better to attract attention, lay the dead body of the colt&mdash;the
+gate, as we have said, being open. All was ready, all within on the
+watch, when about ten o'clock the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> wolves were heard in the distance;
+they approached, smelt, looked, listened, grumbled, and distrusting the
+open gate, paused; not one would enter. Profound was the silence and
+excitement in the house. Hunger at last overcame prudence and mistrust.
+Their savage cries were renewed; they became more and more impatient and
+exasperated,&mdash;how was it possible to resist a piece of young horseflesh?
+The most forward, probably the captain of the band, could hold out no
+longer, and to show his fellows he was worthy to be their leader, he
+advanced alone, passed the Rubicon, went up to the colt, tore away a
+large piece of his chest, and, proud of his achievement, set off at
+speed with his booty between his teeth. The other wolves, seeing him
+escape in safety, regained their confidence, and one, two, three, six,
+eight wolves were soon gathered round the animal, but, though eating as
+fast as they could, they remained with ears erect, and each eye still on
+the gate.</p>
+
+<p>Eight wolves! The farmer thought it a respectable number, and whistled,
+when the four men at the ropes hauling instantly, the large
+folding-gates rolled to, and closed in the stillness with the noise of
+thunder,&mdash;the wolves were prisoners. Startled and terrified at finding
+themselves caught, they at once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> deserted the small remains of the colt,
+creeping about in all directions in search of some outlet by which they
+might escape, or some hole to hide in, while the farmer, having secured
+them, sent his household to bed, putting off their destruction till
+sunrise.</p>
+
+<p>The morning dawned, and with the first rays of light master and men, for
+whom the event was a perfect <i>f&ecirc;te</i>, set some ladders against the walls
+of the court, and from them, as well as the windows, fired volleys on
+the entrapped wolves. Unable to resist, the animals for some time
+hurried hither and thither, crouching in every nook and corner of the
+yard: but the wounds from balls which reached them behind the stones, or
+under the carts, soon turned their fear into rage. They began to make
+alarming leaps, and the most dreadful yells. The work of destruction
+went on but slowly;&mdash;the men were but indifferent shots, the wolves
+never an instant at rest;&mdash;and the rapidity and perseverance with which
+they continued to gallop round, or leap from side to side of the yard,
+as if in a cage, essentially baffled the endeavours of their enemies.</p>
+
+<p>The affair was in this way becoming tedious, when an unlooked-for
+misfortune threw a dreadful gloom over the whole scene.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p><p>The ladder used by one of the party being too short, the young man
+placed himself on the wall, as if in a saddle, to have a better
+opportunity of taking aim; when one of the wolves, the largest,
+strongest, and most exasperated, suddenly bounded at the wall, as if to
+clear it, but failed; subsequently the animal attempted to climb up by
+means of the unhewn stones, like a cat, and though he again failed,
+reached high enough almost to seize with his sharp teeth the foot of the
+unfortunate lad. Terrified at this he raised his leg to avoid the
+brute&mdash;lost his balance&mdash;and the same moment fell with a heart-rending
+scream into the court below. Each and all the wolves turned like
+lightning on their helpless, hopeless victim, and a cry of horror was
+heard on every side.</p>
+
+<p>The storm of leaden hail ceased: no man dared fire again, and yet
+something must be done, for the monsters were devouring their unhappy
+fellow-servant. Listening only to the dictates of courage and humanity,
+the noble-hearted farmer, gun in hand, leaped at once into the yard, and
+his men all followed his heroic example. A general and frightful
+conflict ensued. The scene which then took place defies every attempt at
+description. No pen could adequately place before the reader the awful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>
+incidents that succeeded. He must, if he can, imagine the howling of the
+wolves, the piteous cries of the lacerated and dying youth, the
+imprecations of the men, the neighing of the horses and roaring of the
+bulls in the stables; and, more than all, the crying and lamentations of
+the women and children in the house&mdash;a fearful chorus&mdash;such as happily
+few, very few persons were ever doomed to hear. At last the farmer's
+wife, a powerful and resolute woman, with great presence of mind
+unmuzzled the dogs, and threw them from a window into the yard. This
+most useful reinforcement with their vigorous attacks and loud barking
+completed the tumult and the tragedy. In twenty minutes the eight wolves
+were dead, and with them half the faithful dogs. The poor unfortunate
+lad, his throat torn open, was dead; his courageous, though unsuccessful
+defenders, were all more or less wounded, and the gallant farmer's left
+hand so injured, that as soon as surgical assistance could be procured
+for him, amputation was found to be necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The monsters, stretched side by side in the yard, were also stone dead,
+every one of them; but not a voice on the farm raised the heart-stirring
+shout of victory. Consternation and gloom reigned over it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> and it was
+long indeed ere the voice of mourning deserted its walls.</p>
+
+<p>The skin of the wolf is strong and durable; the woodmen, <i>braconniers</i>,
+and mountaineers, make cloaks and caps of it, the tail being left on the
+latter to fall over the ear by way of ornament; they likewise cover with
+it the outside of their game-bags. They tan it also, and excellent shoes
+are made of the leather, soft and light for summer wear,&mdash;it is likewise
+made into parchment, not to write the history of their ancestors upon,
+but to cover small drums, the rattle of which, on fairdays and <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>
+is sure to set the peasants dancing. This fact is alluded to in a song
+of our province, written by a shepherd-poet, in the pleasing dialect of
+Le Morvan, of which the following is a free translation:</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+Hark! 'tis the wolf-skin drum,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">We come! We come!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Yes, come with me sweet girl, and fair</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">As rosebud wild that scents the air.</span><br />
+The heavens are bright, the stars are shining,<br />
+Thy lovely form my arms entwining;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Together let us lead the dance</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Deep in thy sylvan haunts, dear France!</span><br />
+Hark! I hear those sounds again,<br />
+The wolf-skin drum, the pipers' strain.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>Wealthy persons use a wolf-skin for a carriage-rug, and in the rainy
+season as a mat at the door of a room. "There is nothing good in the
+wolf," says Buffon, "he has a base low look&mdash;a savage aspect, a terrible
+voice, an insupportable smell, a nature brutal and ferocious, and a body
+so foul and unclean that no animal or reptile will touch his flesh. It
+is only a wolf that can eat a wolf." "No animal," writes Cuvier, "so
+richly merits destruction as the wolf." With these two funeral orations
+on these incarnate fiends of Natural History, I shall close this
+chapter, remarking that the anathema bestowed on them by Buffon is not
+quite correct, for if wolves are dangerous, and enemies to the public
+weal, and "there is nothing good" in them during their lives, they, at
+least, become useful after their death.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Fishing in Le Morvan&mdash;The naturalists&mdash;The <i>Gour</i> of Akin&mdash;The
+English lady&mdash;The mountain streams&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau de
+Chatelux&mdash;Sermiselle&mdash;New mode of killing pike&mdash;Pierre Pertuis&mdash;The
+rocks and whirlpool there&mdash;The syrens of the grotto&mdash;Ch&acirc;teau des
+Panolas&mdash;The Cousin&mdash;The ponds of Marot and lakes of Lomervo&mdash;Mode
+of taking fish with live trimmers&mdash;The Scotch farmer. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Having</span> disposed of the quadrupeds of Le Morvan, I must enlarge a little
+upon the finny tribe of my native province, who would, I feel sure, be
+not a little annoyed if after having mentioned nearly every other
+creature capable of affording amusement to the sportsman I were to pass
+them over in silence. Besides, the shade of Izaak Walton would haunt me,
+and his disciples no doubt wish me well hooked, if I omitted to give
+them a chapter on angling,&mdash;but it shall be short, and I will avoid all
+scientific discussion. Theories sufficient have been hazarded, and books
+written without number from the days of old Aristotle, who arranged them
+in three great divisions, the Cetaceous, the Cartilaginous, and the
+Spinous; down to Gmelin, who divided them into six orders,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> the Apodal,
+the Jugular, the Thoracic, the Abdominal, the Branchiostagous, and the
+Chondropterygious.</p>
+
+<p>How men, learned and scientific men, can be so barbarous as to invent
+such grotesque names as these is surprizing, or why Apicius should be
+remembered for having been the first to teach mankind how to suffocate
+fish in Carthaginian pickle; or Quin, for having discovered a sauce for
+John Dories; or Mrs. Glasse, for an eel pie; or M. Soyer, celebrated for
+depriving barbel of their sight, in order to make them grow fatter, and
+be more acceptable to the epicure. Into this wilderness of discoveries,
+I have no intention of introducing you, gentle reader. The wisest plan
+is to cook and eat your fish in the ordinary mode&mdash;fry, broil, bake,
+boil, or grill; and call a perch, a perch, not a thoracic; a pike, a
+pike, &amp;c., and pay little attention either to cooks or naturalists.</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan, intersected by numerous rivers, streams, and runs of water,
+in the liquid depths of which the various species of the fresh-water
+fishy-family are found from the powerful, swift, and travelled salmon,
+to the modest little gudgeon that stays quietly at home, is a country
+where the angler may live in a state of perpetual jubilee; the carp, the
+eel, and the pike attain an enormous size, particularly near the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> dams
+and flood-gates, where the depth of water is great, and in the <i>Gours</i>
+or water-courses which, diverging at several points on the stream, are
+constructed for supplying the flour and paper-mills with water.</p>
+
+<p>The punters of Richmond, Hampton Court, and Chertsey, with their
+magnificent tackle, gentles, ground-bait, and comfortable chair, &amp;c.,
+would be astonished to see the quantities of fish that are taken in one
+of these <i>Gours</i> by a half-naked peasant, with a line as thick as
+packthread, during a sultry tempestuous evening in the month of June;
+from thirty to forty pounds' weight of carp and eels is by no means an
+unusual take,&mdash;Apodal and Abdominal, as the learned Gmelin would say.</p>
+
+<p>These <i>Gours</i> are perfect jewels in the eyes of our fishermen; on very
+great occasions, for instance, when the miller marries, or an infant
+miller makes his appearance, if the occurrence should happen during the
+summer season, the flood-gates of the <i>Gours</i> are opened, when the
+waters being let off to within a few inches of the bottom, the quantity
+of fish taken with the casting-net is enormous. In the large <i>Gour</i> of
+Akin, the longest, the deepest, and containing more fish than any on the
+Cure or the Cousin, which I mention<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> as representing the ten or twelve
+second-rate rivers of Le Morvan, I have seen as much as four horse-loads
+of fish taken, though every fish under two pounds was thrown back. The
+average depth of water in these rivers is from three to four feet,
+except near the dams and flood-gates, where it is from twelve to
+thirteen. With rivers so well supplied, sport is invariably obtained; so
+that patience, a virtue generally considered absolutely necessary in the
+angler, is scarcely required here, and fishing is actually a pastime of
+the <i>beau sexe</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Well do I remember the astonishment, the pleasure, the delicious joy of
+a young English lady we had the good fortune to have with us at Vezelay,
+some few years since (where, by-the-bye, she made quite a sensation),
+when for the first time, and seated comfortably upon the soft turf by
+the river side, she gracefully threw her line into the great <i>Gour</i> of
+Akin; the bait had scarcely sunk, when the float was dancing about like
+a dervish, and finally disappeared; the lady pulled, the fish resisted;
+excited beyond measure, she redoubled her efforts, and tugging away with
+both hands, at length drew from his watery home a large carp, which
+flying through the air, described a splendid parabola, and landed in the
+adjoining field,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> to the great joy of the young lady, who showed her
+white teeth and laughed with might and main. But the poor devil of a
+servant to whom was confided the delicate task of impaling the bait,
+disentangling the line, and searching for the fish, when thus projected
+over the lady's head into the long grass behind her, had plenty to do I
+can aver, and did anything but laugh.</p>
+
+<p>Near the forests and the hills the rivers are much more shallow, more
+clear and limpid, and flow, dance, and bubble over a gravelly bottom or
+golden sands. In these the voracious trout abounds; he may be seen
+allowing himself to be lazily rocked by the eddy, by the twirling
+current, or reposing under the shadow of the large rocks, which,
+detached from the adjacent mountains, have fallen into the river, and
+been arrested in their course; here he waits for the delicious May-fly,
+and the fisherman's basket is soon filled&mdash;so soon that a celebrated
+doctor in our neighbourhood, whose house is situated near one of these
+streams, used to send his servant every morning to take a fresh dish for
+his breakfast. The largest and the best trout are found near Chatelux,
+in the heart of the Morvan,&mdash;an old <i>ch&acirc;teau</i>, on the summit of a high
+rock, ornamented with towers and turrets, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> surrounded by thick and
+solitary woods, in itself a lion worth seeing.</p>
+
+<p>The present Count de Chatelux was aide-de-camp to Louis Phillipe, and a
+great friend of that sovereign. The river Cure flows at the foot of the
+hill on which the castle is situated, and its bed at this part is
+frequently divided, and forms many little islets, full of flowering
+shrubs and forest trees, which give the landscape a pleasing and
+picturesque appearance. From hence, for nearly twelve miles, roach,
+dace, chub, and trout are numerous, and take the fly well.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the <i>Gours</i> we have mentioned, there are three spots in the
+Morvan that deserve attention in connection with fishing. These are
+Sermiselle, Pierre Pertuis, and the Ch&acirc;teau des Panolas. Sermiselle, at
+the junction of the Cure and the Cousin, at which point the road from
+Paris to Lyons passes, is a charming village, full of life and gaiety.
+At this spot the river begins to make a respectable figure; deep,
+solemn, and silent, it seems proud of its boats and ferries; but its
+waters have not that transparent appearance, that vivacious, laughing,
+and brawling character which distinguished them some miles further up.
+The fish in like manner resemble the stream; there are in this part
+monstrous carp, majestic eels,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> and solemn pike; and the line should be
+doubly strong if the angler is desirous of ever seeing a fish, or his
+hooks again.</p>
+
+<p>At some distance above Sermiselle, where the silence and solitude of the
+country still reign, a very curious mode of fishing is adopted during
+the burning heat of the summer months. About mid-day, when the sun in
+all its power shoots his golden rays perpendicularly on the waters,
+illuminating every large hole even in the profoundest depths, the large
+fish leave them, and, ascending to the surface, remain under the cool
+shade of the trees, watching for whatever tit-bit or delicacy the stream
+may bring with it, while others prefer a quiet saunter, or, with the
+dorsal fin above the water, lie so still and stationary near some lily
+or other aquatic plant, that they seem perfectly asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The enthusiastic sportsman, who fears neither storms nor a
+<i>coup-de-soleil</i>, makes his appearance about this time, without, it is
+true, either fishing-rod, lines, worms, flies, or bait of any
+description, but having under his left arm a double-barrel gun, in his
+right hand a large cabbage, and at his heels a clever poodle. The
+fisherman, or the huntsman, I scarcely know which to call him, now duly
+reconnoitres the river,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> fixes upon some tree, the large and lower
+branches of which spread over it, ascends with his gun and his cabbage,
+and having taken up an equestrian position upon one of the projecting
+arms, examines the surface of the deep stream below him. He has not been
+long on his perch when he perceives a stately pike paddling up the
+river; a leaf is instantly broken off the cabbage, and when the
+Branchiostagous has approached sufficiently near, is thrown into the
+water; frightened, the voracious fish at once disappears, but shortly
+after rises, and grateful to the unknown and kind friend who has sent
+him this admirable parasol, he goes towards it, and after pushing it
+about for a few seconds with his nose, finally places himself
+comfortably under its protecting shade. The sportsman, watching the
+animated gyrations of his cabbage-leaf, immediately fires, when the
+poodle, whose sagacity is quite equal to that of his master, plunges
+into the water, and if the fish is either dead or severely wounded fails
+not to bring out with him the scaly morsel; thus so long as the heavens
+are bright and blue, the water is warm, the large fish choose to
+promenade in the sun, and the sportsman's powers of climbing hold out,
+the sport continues. Sometimes the poodle and the fish have a very sharp
+struggle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> and then the fun is great indeed, unless by chance the
+sportsman should unfortunately miss his hold in the midst of his
+laughter, and drop head-foremost into the water with his cabbage and his
+double-barrel.</p>
+
+<p>Pierre Pertuis on the Cure, is also a famous place for fishing, and an
+extraordinary spot, and the Morvinian peasant, a highly
+poetically-flavoured individual, has made it the theatre of some very
+fantastic scenes. Imagine a yellow rock, of gigantic height, terminating
+in a point, with its sides full of fissures, holes, and crevices,
+inhabited by crows, owls, and bats, having its base in the river and its
+summit crowned with a rough <i>chevelure</i> of brambles and large creeping
+plants. The lower part of this rock is intersected by holes, through
+which the water rushes, tumbles, and whirls. The peasants pretend that
+the river near the rock cannot be fathomed, and that this particular
+spot is inhabited by fairies, nymphs, syrens, and other amiable ladies
+of this description, who have superb voices, and sing from the interior
+of their grottos delicious melodies of the other world, with the
+charitable intention of attracting the passing traveller or fisherman,
+and drowning him in the whirlpool beneath&mdash;a fate that would certainly
+be inevitable, if the attraction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> in question could bring them within
+its vortex, for certain it is that neither sheep-dogs or cattle which
+have fallen in, or been drawn within reach of its power, have ever been
+seen again. When the tempest rages here, the wind, rushing into the
+holes and fissures, produces a kind of moaning &AElig;olian noise, and this
+with the cries of the owls and the rooks when the <i>mistral</i> blows and
+they have the rheumatism, produces, and no wonder, a superstitious
+feeling of awe in the mind of the ignorant peasant.</p>
+
+<p>On the Cousin, which flows majestically through some of the most
+magnificent pastures in the world, and on the summit of a large hill,
+stands the charming Ch&acirc;teau des Panolas, the towers and walls of which,
+covered with pointed roofs and weather-cocks, and surrounded by domes,
+belvederes, and old-fashioned dovecots, give it at a distance the
+appearance of some oriental building. The weather-cocks in particular
+are of the most fanciful and grotesque designs, and it is said, and I
+should think there can be no doubt of the fact, that in no other
+structure have so many been seen together: it is calculated there are no
+less than three hundred. In going and returning from the forest, many a
+time have I and my friends, in the hey-day of youthful iniquities,
+knocked one of them off with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> ball from our guns, to the great anger
+of the proprietor, who threatened us with his mahogany crutch from the
+hall door.</p>
+
+<p>In the great ponds of Marot, and in the lakes of Lomervo&mdash;immense liquid
+plains, deep and surrounded in their whole circumference by a forest of
+green rushes, water-lilies, flags, and many other aquatic plants,
+forming a wall of verdure&mdash;the enormous quantity of fish of every kind
+is almost incredible. Nor is this extraordinary, for the waters of at
+least a dozen streams from the mountains, which swarm with life, fall
+into these vast reservoirs, and they are only fished once in every five
+years. This is a delectable spot for fishermen; but, on the other hand,
+as the value of these sheets of water is well understood by their
+proprietors, they are sharply looked after by them and their keepers,
+and it is almost as difficult to find an opportunity of throwing a line
+during the day, as it is for a poacher to throw a casting net on a
+moonlight night.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, as the appropriation of other people's property has an
+exquisite charm for some temperaments,&mdash;as a stolen apple to a child's
+palate is much more delightful than one that is not&mdash;the demon of
+acquisitiveness is always leaning over a man's shoulder,&mdash;that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> is to
+say, a poacher's shoulder, or even that of a gentleman with poaching
+tastes and inclinations,&mdash;to breathe in his ear bad advice. As to the
+peasants in the neighbourhood, they are always consulting together, or
+inventing some method by which they may circumvent the proprietors and
+appropriate their fish to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>One of the happiest discoveries of the kind I ever heard of,&mdash;not the
+most recent but the best,&mdash;is the following. Every person in the
+possession of a cottage, possesses also a few ducks and geese, which
+paddle about their humble habitations. A man who has an itching for the
+thing, and who desires to become a pond-skimmer, as they are called,
+carefully selects from his squadron of <i>palmipedes</i>, the strongest, the
+most intelligent duck or goose of the party; his choice made, he
+immediately sets to work to give him the education befitting a bird
+destined for so honourable and diplomatic an employment.</p>
+
+<p>After very many trials, lessons, and lectures, more or less difficult
+and tedious, the bird is taught to swim to a distance right ahead&mdash;to
+turn to one side when his master sings, and return to him when he
+whistles. These two primary and elementary movements, which appear so
+very natural, demand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> nevertheless, wonderful patience, and no little
+cleverness and tact in the professor to instil&mdash;for his pupils, be it
+remembered, are ducks and geese&mdash;and furnishes an example of how the
+hope and love of gain has its effect on mankind. These very peasants,
+who never would take the trouble to learn their letters&mdash;only
+twenty-four&mdash;who would not many of them go two miles to learn how to
+sign their own names, pass whole days in the gray waters of these
+marshes, more often than not up to their waists in mud, whistling and
+singing and twitching the legs of their unfortunate birds, and nearly
+pulling them off with a string, when they either do not comprehend, or
+obey as quickly as they might, the orders they receive.</p>
+
+<p>Dozens of ducks and geese that would in London or Paris be considered
+highly curious and infinitely wiser than any of their species&mdash;even
+those of the Capitol&mdash;are thus trained every year in Le Morvan, without
+any one giving them a thought, and may be purchased, education included,
+for two shillings a piece. When these winged students are so thoroughly
+qualified for their duties, that they can go through their exercise
+without a mistake, and are considered worthy of taking the field, the
+peasant puts them into his bag, and setting off very early in the
+morning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> to one of the great ponds I have mentioned, conceals himself
+behind a thick tufty curtain of flags, from whence he can see without
+being seen.</p>
+
+<p>Here, opening his bag, he takes out the half suffocated ducks or geese,
+which are glad enough to find themselves once more on their favourite
+element; and the intelligent birds have scarcely regained their liberty
+when the peasant commences his ballad, and immediately the anchor is
+apeak and they are off; he sings, he whistles, and they turn, like two
+well-manned frigates, and come back to him without a moment's delay. The
+act is so natural, so simple, that no one can be attracted by it; nor is
+it possible to suspect a goose or a duck with its head down searching
+for food, that paddles about in the weeds or on the shore, or dabbles
+amongst the rushes. Should the keeper appear, the peasant is sure to be
+found lying on his back half asleep, or singing or whistling, as if
+mocking the lark in the clear blue sky above him.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, this goose, this duck, and this man are first-rate
+thieves,&mdash;cracksmen of their class; for the peasant, before he confides
+his poultry to the waves, makes their toilette; sliding under the left
+wing and over the right, across the body, like a soldier's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> belt, a
+strong and well-baited pike-hook. Thus equipped and ready for the start,
+the pirate birds leave on their buccaneering expedition; but they are
+scarcely a stone's throw from the shore, and well clear of the little
+islands of flags, when a hungry pike, observing the delicious frog
+towing in the rear, seizes it, and makes off to his hole, to gorge the
+bait at his leisure. More easily thought than done;&mdash;the goose stoutly
+resists, and refuses to accompany the fresh-water shark to his weedy
+home. A warm and obstinate engagement is the result; the peasant
+watches, with approving eye, the embarassment of his feathered
+accomplice, until he thinks it time to put an end to the scrimmage, when
+he whistles like an easterly wind in a passion. The goose, rather
+encumbered by the carnivorous gentleman below him, endeavours for some
+time but in vain to obey the signal; he flaps his wings, works away with
+his legs, and cackles without ceasing. The poacher encourages him with
+another whistle, and at length the bird, in spite of all his adversary's
+attempts to the contrary, leads the "greedy game of the deep" to the
+shore, and delivers it to his master. This is, certainly, a very curious
+mode of taking pike, and the live trimmer looks very puzzled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> when the
+voracious fish is hooked; but the following anecdote, taken from the
+scrap-book of Mr. M'Diarmid, shows that a Scotchman once adopted the
+same method, though for a different reason. "Several years ago," he
+writes, "a farmer, living in the immediate neighbourhood of Lochmaben,
+Dumfriesshire, kept a gander, who not only had a great trick of
+wandering himself, but also delighted in piloting forth his cackling
+harem, to weary themselves in circumnavigating their native lake, or in
+straying amidst forbidden fields on the opposite shore. Wishing to check
+this flagrant habit, the farmer one day seized the gander just as he was
+about to spring upon the blue bosom of his favourite element, and tying
+a large fish-hook to his leg, to which was attached part of a dead frog,
+he suffered him to proceed upon his voyage of discovery. As had been
+anticipated, this bait soon caught the eye of a ravenous pike, which
+swallowing the deadly hook, not only arrested the progress of the
+astonished gander, but forced him to perform half-a-dozen summersets on
+the surface of the water! For some time, the struggle was most
+amusing&mdash;the fish pulling, and the bird screaming with all its
+might,&mdash;the one attempting to fly, and the other to swim,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> from the
+invisible enemy&mdash;the gander one moment losing and the next regaining his
+centre of gravity, and casting between whiles many a rueful look at his
+snow-white fleet of geese and goslings, who cackled out their sympathy
+for their afflicted commodore. At length Victory declared in favour of
+the feathered angler, who, bearing away for the nearest shore, landed on
+the smooth green grass one of the finest pike ever caught in the Castle
+Loch."</p>
+
+<p>This adventure is said to have cured the gander of his desperate
+propensity for wandering.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p>
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">Village <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>&mdash;The first of May&mdash;The religious festivals&mdash;The
+<i>F&ecirc;te Dieu</i>&mdash;Appearance of the streets&mdash;The altars erected in
+them&mdash;Procession from the church&mdash;Country fairs&mdash;The book-stalls at
+them&mdash;Pictures of the Roman Catholic Church&mdash;Before the
+<i>Vendange</i>&mdash;Proprietors' hopes and fears&mdash;Shooting in the
+vineyards&mdash;The first day of the <i>Vendange</i>&mdash;Appearance of the
+country&mdash;Influx of visitors at this season&mdash;The
+consequences&mdash;Herminie&mdash;Her sad history&mdash;Le Morvan&mdash;Recommended to
+the English traveller&mdash;Lord Brougham and Cannes&mdash;Contrast between
+it and Le Morvan. </p></div>
+
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">One</span> of the happiest and most useful customs established by our
+ancestors, was, without doubt, the village <i>f&ecirc;te</i>&mdash;the periodical
+festival that takes place in every hamlet, and at which the inhabitants
+of the adjoining <i>communes</i> assemble on a specified day to foot it gaily
+in the dance and drink each other's health glass to glass in brimming
+bumpers. These joyous <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>, a kind of fraternal and social
+invitation, which are given and accepted by the rural population when
+spring and verdure made their appearance, are held all over France, and
+rejoice every heart. In our day, though much shorn of its ancient
+revelry, and neglected, <i>la f&ecirc;te du village</i> is still kept up, for it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+is, so to speak, indigenous,&mdash;a part of our social habits, and like
+everything which carries within it a generous sentiment, is loved and
+cherished by the people. As the day approaches every village is suitably
+decorated, the women are all on the tip toe of excitement to see and be
+seen, the peasant throws dull care behind him, and the artizans in the
+nearest town work with renewed energy in order that they may do honour
+to the occasion. Every one, in short, makes his way to the rendezvous, a
+merry laugh on his lip and joy in his heart, and, lost in the tumult and
+general gaiety that prevail, all forget, for some few hours, their hard
+work and privations.</p>
+
+<p>These festivals offer to each either profit or amusement; the peasants
+find in them a refreshing and salutary rest from toil, the tradesman
+fails not to fill his pockets with their hard earnings, the clown shows
+off his summersets, the young men are touched with the tender passion,
+and the young girls, with their white teeth and sparkling eyes, await
+with feigned indifference the proposals of their admirers. The village
+<i>f&ecirc;te</i> forms a bright epoch in rustic life, and the gay hours passed at
+them are the happiest, the most joyous, and the most enchanting of the
+year.</p>
+
+<p>Our ancestors, who knew and more thoroughly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> understood these matters
+than we do, who loved a laugh, the dance, and the merry outpourings of
+the heart, endeavoured by every means in their power to multiply them,
+and, after having seized upon the name of every saint in paradise, they
+managed to appropriate, and always for the same motive, all the various
+occupations known in the cultivation of the fields as a good excuse for
+holding more of these saturnalia. The season for sowing was one, the
+hay-harvest another, the wheat-harvest, the period of felling the oaks
+in the forest were excellent opportunities for establishing a new
+<i>f&ecirc;te</i>, and consequently buying a new coat, singing a carol, drinking to
+France, and skipping <i>des Rigodons</i>. For, be it said, one really does
+amuse oneself in my beautiful country; yes, one amuses oneself, perhaps,
+much more than one works; there are more Casinos built than acres
+grubbed up, and is not this partly the reason why the land is so badly
+tilled and produces only one half of what it should. But what signifies
+it, after all, if this half is sufficient for us. England, they say, is
+more opulent and better cultivated; be it so,&mdash;she is richer, she
+manufactures more; but is she happier?</p>
+
+<p>Independently of these <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>, the number of which is infinite, but
+which occur only, in each locality, once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> a year, there exist also those
+merry meetings, which, like the Sunday, are understood by the peasantry
+as a general holiday. Amongst these, the most animated and attractive,
+and more usually marked by happy incidents, is that of the first of May.
+At the earliest dawn of day, the tones of the bagpipe may be
+distinguished in the distance, coming up the principal street of the
+village. He who has heard this rustic sound in the happy days of his
+childhood, under the shade of the elms, will always love the unmusical
+and melancholy wailing of the bagpipe. The strain has scarcely died away
+when all the village is alive, every one is up and dressed in his
+best&mdash;the children, with enormous nosegays in each little hand, go and
+present them to their delighted parents, and wish them "<i>un doux mois de
+Mai</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Each house, perfumed like a parterre of flowers, opens its doors, and,
+during the live long day, it is between friends and acquaintance a
+series of happy smiles, and a mutual exchange of nosegays and hearty
+shaking of hands. Then in the evening, when the moon has risen in the
+west over the fir woods, the young lads and lasses, with their fathers
+and mothers, saunter along the streets arm in arm. At short distances,
+on the roofs of the houses, are seen, elevated in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> the air, gigantic
+chaplets of flowers, illuminated by large torches of rosin. Within these
+chaplets are others of smaller size. A dance, <i>grand rond</i>, is formed by
+the young lovers that have carried the May to their sweethearts, who,
+rising before the dawn, had already gathered the mysterious declaration
+of love, perfumed and still covered with the tears of night. In this
+large circle is formed another of children, about ten years of age, and
+within this again, a third of quite little things; small human garlands
+within the greater one. And the bagpipe plays, and all the world dance,
+and every one is happy, and the evening breeze shaking the large
+chaplets above showers of lilac and hawthorn bloom fall on the dancers
+and rustic ballroom beneath.</p>
+
+<p>To these village <i>f&ecirc;tes</i> must be added, to complete the list of our
+popular holidays&mdash;the religious festivals, established by the Roman
+Catholic church, which, in the eyes of our rural population, are the
+most imposing and magnificent ceremonies of the year. These <i>f&ecirc;tes</i> are
+very little known in Protestant countries; a few details, therefore, of
+one of them, taken at hazard, may please, or at least offer some point
+of interest to the reader.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of June, when the heavens are all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> azure, when the sun
+smiles on us here below, and the summer flowers are all in bloom, the
+long-expected <i>f&ecirc;te</i>, the <i>F&ecirc;te Dieu</i>, <i>la f&ecirc;te des Roses</i>, the feast of
+Corpus Christi, one of the most brilliant festivals of the Roman
+Catholic church takes place.</p>
+
+<p>Several days before, all the houses appear in a new toilette, decked out
+with evergreens and branches of the vine and tamarisk, festoons of which
+are suspended from window to window. All the streets of the village are
+washed and swept, like a drawing-room. On the preceding evening every
+garden is opened, the borders are ravaged, baskets-full of roses,
+armfulls of jasmine, bunches of gilly-flowers and sweet-pea fall under a
+little army of scissars and white hands. The camellias complain, the
+heliotropes murmur, all the tribe of tulips are in low spirits, for each
+family gathers in a perfect harvest of flowers&mdash;every one remarks to the
+other&mdash;"To-morrow is the <i>f&ecirc;te Dieu</i>, the feast of roses&mdash;the favourite
+festival of the year." And when aurora, pale with watching, rises in the
+cloudless sky, when the cock, herald of the morn, proclaims the birth of
+another day, when the first golden ray, traversing space, lights the
+eastern casement, behind which many a lovely bosom heaves, with
+anticipated conquest and excitement, the bells of the village<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> church
+are heard, and at this merry signal every one is up and soon busily
+engaged superintending the preparations for the day.</p>
+
+<p>The streets, as if by enchantment, are carpeted with verdure; the pine,
+the oak, and the birch, from the neighbouring forest, contribute their
+young shoots and leaves; the prickly broom its yellow flowers. The
+fa&ccedil;ades of the houses are hidden under their various hangings, the rich
+suspend from their windows their splendid carpets; the poor, sheets as
+white as driven snow. All ornament them, here and there, with roses,
+pinks, and carnations. Then, at short distances down the principal
+street, the young <i>demoiselles</i> of the village erect what are termed
+<i>reposoirs</i>, a kind of chapel or altar, improvised for the occasion,
+which lead to an emulation and an animated rivalry perfectly terrible.
+It is whose shall be the largest, best, and most elegantly decorated,
+and these young nymphs, usually so reserved and so easily frightened,
+become, for this week, as bold and free as so many dragoons. They enter
+the house, without being announced, open the drawers, visit the
+secretaries, ransack the cupboards. Pirates, with taper fingers, they
+put into their baskets and reticules all the valuables they can lay
+their hands on. Objects of art they are sure to seize, more especially
+if they are made of the precious metals.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> It is who shall adorn her
+<i>reposoir</i> with gold and bronze vases, with enamelled cups, pictures,
+and rich crucifixes. Important meetings are held, in some secret spot,
+to determine of what form the altar shall be; if the dominating colour
+shall be blue, purple, or lilac. Then there is a consultation whether
+the drapery, that is to cover this temporary chapel, shall be with or
+without a fringe,&mdash;a discussion which becomes more entangled with
+difficulties than those in the Parliamentary Club of the Rue des
+Pyramides, as to the continued existence or demise of our poor
+constitution. Silk, satin, and velvet ornament the interior of the
+elegant edifice; the most delicate perfumes burn in each of its corners,
+and, in order further to embellish the altar on which the Holy Eucharist
+is to rest for a few minutes, there is a perfect coquetting with
+chaplets, festoons of gauze, crystal lamps of various colours, and
+transparencies through which the subdued rays of the sun shed their
+softened light.</p>
+
+<p>And, when everything is ready, when the mass has been said, when the
+moment has arrived for the procession to move through the streets, the
+bells ring a still merrier peal, the great folding-doors of the
+principal entrance of the church are thrown open, and emerging from
+thence one sees beneath the vaulted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> arch, first, the great silver
+cross, then the banner of the blessed Virgin, carried by a beautiful
+young girl, dressed in a robe of spotless white; after her come several
+little children with flaxen heads, their hair parted and flowing on
+their shoulders, carrying in their hands baskets ornamented with lace,
+and full of poppies and corn-flowers; behind them are the children of
+the choir, with their silver-chased incense burners; then two deacons,
+one carrying on a silver plate the bloom of the vine, the other a head
+of corn; then four men supporting a large shield, on which are twelve
+loaves and a lamb, symbolical of the day; and lastly, under a canopy
+enriched with gold lace and fringe, the old priest, calm and grave, who
+carries in his hands the Holy Eucharist, followed by a long line of his
+faithful parishioners, with the mammas and young girls two and two,
+singing psalms and canticles. In this order they move along the crowded
+streets, which are strewn with fennel, green branches, and leaves.</p>
+
+<p>From time to time the whole procession halts before some <i>reposoir</i>&mdash;the
+little girls drop three curtsies before the beautiful altar, and scatter
+high in the air handfuls of broken flowers, which shed a delicious
+fragrance around; the children of the choir wave their censers to and
+fro, the old priest blesses the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> crowd who kneel before him, and the
+smoke of the incense, and the perfume of the roses, ascend towards
+heaven as the adorations and prayers of all present ascend to God. This,
+the holiest and most imposing <i>f&ecirc;te</i> of our rural districts, is also the
+one the most loved. Pity not the peasant, pity not those who are from
+necessity obliged to live in these retired spots. They have their
+<i>f&ecirc;tes</i> as well as the rich, happier and much more magnificent, at which
+they can be present and form part without paying anything. Nature, too,
+source of so many marvels, whether she covers the earth with a robe of
+verdure, or fields of golden corn, or that she shelters it under a
+mantle of snow, presents to the husbandman some interesting scene. Have
+they not also the shade and silence of the forest, the eternal freshness
+of the fountains?</p>
+
+<p>It is true the peasants know nothing of Beethoven's symphony in C, they
+are not familiar with the melodies of Rossini, Madame Grisi has never in
+her terrible finale "<i>Qual cor tradisti</i>" made them weep, nor has the
+orchestra of Monsieur Jullien made them deaf. But what are these
+splendid wonders of the town to them? Have they not a melodious choir of
+birds to arouse them each morning from their slumbers? have they not as
+scenes, the woods, the bubbling waters, verdant valleys, real sunrises
+and sunsets? Can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> they not, seated on the summit of some hill, round
+which the breeze of evening plays, gaze upon the glorious sky above them
+spangled with stars, those unfading flowers of Heaven? Say, reader, is
+not this hill a charming pit-stall, and much preferable to the narrow
+crimson section of the bench at the Opera? These are some of their
+enjoyments; then how could they with any degree of pleasure stick
+themselves up like logs of wood or trusses of hay before a row of lurid
+lamps, to admire some painted men and women mincing up and down the
+stage, or peer through two telescopes at forests of painted calico and
+moons cut out of pasteboard, or listen to hackneyed airs which have been
+sung and resung a hundred times&mdash;worn up, in short, like an old rope?</p>
+
+<p>The peasant farmer or yeoman of France, who in the midst of the most
+pleasing circumstances, never forgets his own interests, has also found
+it desirable for the advancement of his worldly prosperity, to establish
+fairs, at which he can sell his hemp and beasts, his wine and his crops;
+purchase clothes for his family, and coulters for his ploughs.</p>
+
+<p>These fairs, which are held once in each month in all the towns of
+Burgundy and large villages of Le Morvan, attract a great concourse of
+people, and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> there is much variety in the costumes, head-dresses and
+colours, the effect is highly picturesque. The mountaineer brings with
+him for sale wild boar and venison, wood and wild fruits of the forest;
+the inhabitant of the plain, the thousand productions of the
+neighbouring manufactories. Second-rate jewellers arrive with their
+boxes full of gold crosses and buckles, holy chaplets blessed at some
+favourite shrine, and silver rings.</p>
+
+<p>Book-stalls are also to be seen, kept by Jesuits in disguise, the
+shelves of which are loaded with inferior literature, with a perfect
+deluge of breviaries, almanacks, abridgments of the Lives of the Saints,
+with "Letters fallen from Heaven," in which, "Ladies and gentlemen,"
+shouts the proprietor, "you will read the details, truthful and
+historical, of the last miracle at Rimini; also a new and marvellous
+account, equally authentic, of several pictures of Christ that have shed
+tears of blood. Buy, ladies and gentlemen, buy the history of these
+astonishing miracles&mdash;only a penny, ladies, for which you will have into
+the bargain the invaluable signature of our Holy Father the Pope, and
+the benediction of our Lord the Bishop."</p>
+
+<p>But ought one to be surprised at such announcements, at such a traffic,
+or that in these so-called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> enlightened days, not only auditors but
+purchasers should be found?&mdash;that there should, in fact, be a sale for
+these printed mystifications, when officers of the government and
+officers of the armed force, attest on their honour the truth of these
+impudent impositions upon the credulity of mankind, affirm the accuracy
+and <i>bon&acirc; fide</i> character of these winking, blinking, blasphemous,
+lachrymal representations?</p>
+
+<p>Yes&mdash;a sub-prefect, a mayor, and an officer of the <i>gendarmerie</i>, have
+signed a document stating that they had seen a picture of Christ
+shedding tears of blood!</p>
+
+<p>When archbishops order public prayers and thanksgivings for the renewal
+of these pasquinades, this ridiculous mockery, can one be astonished, I
+say, at the state of religious ignorance and blindness of our peasantry?
+Such, with a few wretched prints representing Napoleon passing the Alps
+seated on an eagle; Poniatowsky and his white horse attempting to cross
+the Oder; Cambronne, with imperial moustachios, on his knees repeating
+the celebrated <i>mot</i> which he never said: "<i>La garde meurt et ne se rend
+pas</i>," &amp;c.,&mdash;such, I am grieved to confess, is the miserable
+intellectual food, the wretched mental and moral stock of human and
+religious knowledge that supplies the literary and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> artistic wants of
+the greater portion of the peasants of our departments.</p>
+
+<p>At these fairs all the farm servants are engaged; those who wish to try
+a change of masters, or hire themselves merely for the harvest, assemble
+in the open space near the church, and then offer to those who require
+them, their brawny arms, and their farming acquirements. The most
+celebrated of these fairs is that held on the First of September, to
+which whole hamlets send all their able-bodied men and women, who hire
+themselves to the great proprietors for the <i>vendange</i>&mdash;for this in
+Burgundy and Le Morvan is the great work, the chief event of the year;
+it is on the <i>vendange</i> that depend the commerce, the tranquillity and
+happiness of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur B.... is ruined if the sun is obscured by clouds. Monsieur
+D.... who has cunningly laid his hands upon all the barrels within
+thirty miles round, will put a pistol to his head if he cannot sell his
+army of hogsheads. This one relies upon his vineyard for paying his
+debts&mdash;another cannot marry unless he makes three hundred tierces of
+wine. Eight out of twelve, in short, reckon upon the produce of their
+vines to buy a new carriage or to be saved from prison; and the agonised
+mariners of the wrecked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> <i>Medusa</i> never cast their eyes with more
+intense anxiety towards the horizon than do these proprietors of our
+vineyards every morning before the vintage.</p>
+
+<p>If it looks like rain no sunflower is more yellow than their
+countenances; if the cold is unusual every face is pale, and should a
+frost appear imminent, those whose affairs are the most compromised,
+pack up their effects and make ready for a start. But on the other hand,
+if the sky is serene and the wind warm, husbands are actually seen
+embracing their wives, and promising them any toilette they may fancy.
+Should the heat become Bengalic and insupportable oh! then all Burgundy
+is dancing and running to the vineyards,&mdash;all the Morvinians fly to the
+hills to enjoy the cool breezes and admire the luxuriant panorama
+beneath and around them.</p>
+
+<p>But for some months previous to the <i>vendange</i>, no one but a proprietor
+has the right to enter a vineyard; at this period a perfect calm and
+silence reigns, and they become an asylum, a veritable land of Goshen,
+an oasis for all the partridges, hares, and rabbits of the
+neighbourhood. In order to prevent gentlemen and professional poachers
+from cruising in these delightful latitudes, killing the game and
+injuring the vines, a number of <i>gardes champ&ecirc;tres</i>, generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> old
+soldiers, are chosen, who armed with an old sabre, post themselves on
+some height which commands the vineyard, ready to lay violent hands on
+any delinquent that may make his appearance. But in spite of the <i>garde
+champ&ecirc;tre</i>, his long sabre, their interminable cut and thrust, and his
+eternal <i>de par la loi, arretez!</i> there is a sport in the early morning,
+called <i>&agrave; la traul&eacute;e</i>, which is not without its charms.</p>
+
+<p>The vineyards of Burgundy are for the most part divided into sections,
+that is to say, at from two to three hundred paces the contiguity of the
+vines is interrupted, and a small road, which serves during the
+<i>vendange</i> to facilitate the communication and transport of the grapes,
+is cut in the vineyard. At daylight, therefore, before the sun is above
+the horizon, or the white fog hanging in the valleys has been dispersed
+by his rays, and the fashionable gentleman of the town is on the point
+of going to bed, the sportsman, always keen and on the alert, arrives,
+walks slowly and carefully along the roads I have just mentioned,
+looking cautiously right and left, and between the intervals of the
+vines on either side of him.</p>
+
+<p>The rabbits hopping under the leaves, the covey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> of partridges bathing
+amidst the dew, the hares gravely discussing among themselves the
+respective merits of the heath and wild thyme, are thus surprised in
+their matutinal occupations, and become the prey of the delighted
+sportsman. But the moment approaches when the comparative calm and
+protection which the poor animals enjoy will cease&mdash;their days of fun
+and festival are numbered; their enemies up to this period have been
+few&mdash;the rich proprietors, the privileged, but now the masses are
+preparing, they are cleaning up their clumsy blunderbusses, and
+to-morrow "the million" will take the field and assail and pop at them
+from every road and pathway&mdash;for the mayor, after due consultation with
+the principal personages in the village, has sent his drummer, his
+Mercury, his crier, to beat a tattoo in all the public places, and
+crossways, and announce in front of the <i>cabarets</i> that the grapes being
+ripe the <i>vendange</i> is opened.</p>
+
+<p>The following day, when the last star in the heavens is disappearing,
+when the doors of morning are scarcely opened, every road is covered
+with long lines of waggons drawn by oxen, and a cavalcade of horses and
+mules, and great asses carrying panniers may be seen galloping along in
+all directions. Voices, shouts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> squeaking wheels, and neighing horses
+are also heard on every side, and parties of <i>vendangeurs</i> and
+<i>vendangeuses</i>, arm in arm, with baskets on their backs, and grape
+knives in their belts, their broad-brimmed hats encircled with ribbons
+and flowers, are seen marching along, singing many a Bacchanalian chorus
+in honour of the occasion. They are on their way to the vineyards, and
+like so many fauns and Bacchantes, only well draped, are with joyous
+hearts ready to gather in the harvest of the ruby grape.</p>
+
+<p>In advance of this delighted and merry crowd, and always like the lark,
+the first on the wing, the sportsman is already at his post,&mdash;for the
+first day of the <i>vendange</i> is, as Navarre used to say, a day of powder,
+the <i>f&ecirc;te du fusil</i>. And now is formed a line of sometimes three hundred
+<i>vendangeurs</i> and <i>vendangeuses</i> who starting at the same moment, ascend
+the hill-side cutting the grapes, filling and emptying their baskets.
+The young men strike up some jovial song in praise of wine, the girls
+reply; and before this soul-stirring chorus, this burst of gay and
+animated feeling, the game, astounded at the concert, break and retire
+before them. Then is the moment for the sportsman, who, concealed in a
+large thicket and comfortably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> seated at the summit of the hill, listens
+and laughs in his sleeve as he hears the affrighted partridge call, and
+the timid hare rushing through the vines towards him; they approach, are
+within range of his gun, and ere long the shot-bag is emptied, and the
+sportsman is in that rare but agreeable dilemma of not knowing what to
+do with his game or his gun.</p>
+
+<p>In a wine country the <i>vendange</i> is certainly the most exciting and
+merriest season of the year&mdash;it is a succession of delightful <i>f&ecirc;tes</i> in
+the open air, of repasts amongst the vines and under the shade of the
+peach-trees, riding-parties in the forest, whose echoes are awakened by
+the melancholy notes of the horn, water-parties on the lakes, dances in
+the field and round the wine-press, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>Every <i>ch&acirc;teau</i> is full to overflowing in Le Morvan during the month of
+August,&mdash;bands of Parisians, Picards, and Normans, acquaintances
+scarcely made, friends, friends'-friends, with their wives, children,
+dogs, nurses, and luggage arrive each hour and by every road. Every
+family is invaded, beds are doubled, plates are not to be found,&mdash;there
+is only one glass for two, one knife for three; the servants, stupified
+and astonished, know not how to reply or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> which way to turn themselves;
+the cooks, half-roasted and lost amidst an army of sauce-pans, know not
+what they are doing; they put mustard into the <i>m&eacute;ringues</i>, cruets of
+vinegar in the soup&mdash;every one is on the laugh, except however the heads
+of families, who rendered almost crazy by this tide of human beings
+always rising, by the bell of the <i>porte coch&egrave;re</i> always ringing, pass
+on from one to the other the new arrivals, with a note as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Mons. de G.... presents his compliments to Mons. de V...., and has the
+honour to inform him that not possessing in his house one bed or one
+arm-chair that is not occupied, he has the pleasure of sending him two
+Normans and three Parisians."</p>
+
+<p>P.S. "The two Normans are first-rate waltzers, the Parisians perfect
+singers." The reply will perhaps be couched in the following strain:</p>
+
+<p>"Mons. de V.... presents his compliments to Mons. de G...., and has the
+honour to inform him that being himself under the necessity of sleeping
+in his cellar, he cannot, though most anxious to oblige him, receive the
+two Norman dancers and the three Parisian warblers." Thus it sometimes
+happens that very charming, elegant, and sensitive gentlemen, who under
+ordinary circumstances would be very difficult to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> please, are obliged
+to sleep in a barn or loft, on a very nice bed of clean straw, with a
+dark lantern to light them there, and the luxury of a truss of hay for a
+pillow.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants, generally speaking, do not witness the arrival of these
+visitors with much pleasure,&mdash;the dandies more especially, who shod in
+varnished leather, always over-dressed, musked, and starched, attract,
+so they think, too much the attention of the young girls. Fathers,
+mothers, and, above all, lovers, are at once on the look out. They
+mistrust these fine gentlemen, whom they always designate by the
+appellation of "gilded serpents."</p>
+
+<p>My friends from other departments often remarked the looks of aversion
+with which the natives sometimes met them; and not comprehending the
+reason, have asked me for an explanation. Do you observe, I said, that
+little white house, half-hidden yonder in the poplars&mdash;there, on the
+banks of the Cure? That house, a few years ago, was the abiding-place of
+a happy and honest family,&mdash;a father, and his three daughters.</p>
+
+<p>The father, who in his youth was in very good circumstances, was ruined
+by bad harvests, an epidemic disease in his cattle, and by other
+disasters that cause the downfall of many farmers. Nevertheless,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> and
+though his losses were great, he lived happy and even contented with his
+children, who, all three of irreproachable conduct and character, and
+excellent needlewomen, did their utmost to ameliorate his position. They
+made dresses for the ladies in the town, worked by the day, and
+sometimes, when they found their earnings during the summer months fall
+short of what they thought sufficient to meet the expenses of the coming
+winter, they hired themselves to some proprietor during the period of
+the <i>vendange</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The youngest of the three,&mdash;Herminie, she might be about sixteen,&mdash;was a
+charming girl, a true child of Nature, fresh as a wild flower, awaking
+and rising every day of the year from her peaceful happy couch with the
+birds of heaven, always smiling and singing. Herminie was the joy, the
+favourite of the old man,&mdash;she was the linnet, the darling, and the life
+of the house. One autumnal day, (the period at which, as I have before
+remarked, our province abounds with strangers,) her figure attracted the
+attention of one of those cursed beings, with a false heart and lying
+lips, that the great cities send into our rural districts, carrying with
+them desolation and mourning. I know not in what manner it occurred,
+what falsehoods, what arts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> he used, or what traps he laid,&mdash;but he
+succeeded too well in his base purpose. The poor girl was deceived.
+Easily convinced,&mdash;she was too pure, too young to doubt; and her mother,
+who would have been there to watch over her, was alas! sleeping in the
+very churchyard in which, in the shade of the evening, she first met her
+seducer. Enough,&mdash;the heartless man of the world obtained the love of
+the poor and simple Herminie,&mdash;and his whim, his heartless selfish whim
+gratified,&mdash;he disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>The fault, the fault of confiding woman, soon became public. Abandoned
+and betrayed, the poor girl sought death as a refuge in her distress,
+and threw herself into the river; but her father, who watched every
+action of his daughter, was near, and saved her. A man of unusual
+intelligence, and an excellent heart, his maledictions fell entirely
+upon the head of him who had wronged her; for his child he had only
+tears and consolation. Herminie became a mother; her sisters and friends
+were earnest and devoted in their attentions, and anticipated her every
+thought; but broken-hearted, she bent her head like some beautiful lily,
+which has at the parent root some corroding worm. Her gaiety fled, her
+songs ceased; pale and silent, she might be seen standing on some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> rock,
+listening to the howling of the storm, or, her little boy on her lap,
+seated for hours at her father's cottage door, picking some faded rose
+to pieces leaf by leaf, and looking vacantly on the fragments as they
+lay at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>But at the bottom of her cup of grief was still one more bitter
+drop,&mdash;oh! how much more bitter than the rest! Her child, as if
+inheriting the melancholy of its mother, ceased to prattle, to smile; it
+did not thrive, it sickened; and in spite of all her care and watchings,
+of whole nights passed in prayers to the Virgin, to her patron Saint,
+and God, in spite of many an hour of repentant and sorrowing tears,&mdash;it
+died! Bowed to the earth by this fresh, this overwhelming misfortune,
+Herminie complained not, but she became more pale: she was sometimes
+found plunged in silent but profound grief, looking towards heaven as if
+seeking there the little precious being the Almighty had taken from her;
+as if she was anxious to follow,&mdash;to be at rest, united with her baby
+boy again.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>vendange</i> returned once more; but the perfumed gentleman, the
+villain from the capital, came not again. Herminie was desirous of
+assisting in the labours of the season. "I am," said she, "strong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>
+enough;" and though her sisters endeavoured to dissuade her, she
+persisted in accompanying them to the vineyard, but there she found her
+strength was unequal to the task, a smile to one, and a kind answer to
+another, was all that she could give,&mdash;nevertheless it was remarked,
+during the course of the day that she spoke several times out loud, as
+if conversing with some invisible being. Evening arrived, and the
+waggons carried off their ripe and luscious loads, leaving the young men
+and girls racing up and down the pathways, and amongst the vines,
+endeavouring to smear each other's faces with the purple fruit.</p>
+
+<p>Behind these laughing groups came Herminie, the expression of her dark
+blue eye floating in space, and, like the flight of the swallow, resting
+on nothing. Onward she slowly stepped, idly pushing before her the first
+faded leaves of autumn, withered by the hoar frost; and, instead of the
+intoxicating grape, she carried in her hand a <i>bouquet</i> of the arbutus
+and the <i>alize</i>, fruits without perfume, like her own heart, now without
+hope or love. Night came: every eye weary with toil was closed,&mdash;the
+chimes alone telling the hours of the night vibrated on the air. Towards
+morning a startling cry of horror was heard from a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> cottage on the banks
+of the Cure&mdash;Herminie was dead! that is to say, her face was paler than
+usual in her sleep; but she awoke no more! I shall ever remember that
+beautiful face, for I had never till then contemplated the countenance
+of one whose spirit had taken its way to that country from which no
+traveller returns.</p>
+
+<p>A few days, and the withered rose-leaves which the poor girl had pulled
+at the cottage door were scattered by the wind; a few more, and the poor
+old father followed his favourite child; and his surviving daughters,
+half-crazed with grief and sorrow, left the neighbourhood. As to him who
+was the original cause of this domestic tragedy,&mdash;rich, happy, perhaps a
+deputy and making laws himself,&mdash;he lives, and is probably respected. We
+call ourselves a civilized people; we throw into prison a man who
+strikes another,&mdash;and we do not punish, we do not cast from society, we
+do not even reproach the base hypocrite, who, with a smile on his lips,
+and for the infamous gratification of his bad, ungovernable, selfish
+passions, becomes the murderer of a whole family. Bad and rotten are the
+laws which permit such infamous practices. Unworthy of trust are the
+legislators who dream not&mdash;who never think of preventing these impure
+and festering diseases of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> our social system. My friends, who had
+listened attentively to the sad tale, turned from me to inspect more
+closely the white cottage by the Cure, and no longer expressed any
+astonishment at the severe countenances of the peasants.</p>
+
+<p>But how does it happen, will the reader say, that so delightful a
+province of France as that of Le Morvan should have remained for
+nineteen centuries unknown to England,&mdash;that nation of travellers who
+are to be found in every corner of the globe inhabitable and
+uninhabitable? How is it that such a pearl,&mdash;a sporting country
+too,&mdash;should have remained buried for so long a period as it were under
+the dark mantle of indifference? And is it to be credited that in a
+district in which are to be found simultaneously wolves and health, wild
+boar and simplicity, the best wines in the world, and all the
+theological virtues, should have remained up to this day hidden&mdash;lost in
+the deep shadows of its woods and the solitude of its mountains?</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, then, I must remind you that in order to reach Le
+Morvan it is not necessary to traverse either the Indian Archipelago or
+the Cordilleras, or black or ferocious populations. Those who have by
+accident passed through it, have not been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> induced by its appearance to
+inscribe its name in their note-books. But Le Morvan is close at hand;
+Le Morvan, so to speak, touches England,&mdash;a sufficient reason, as every
+one knows, for taking no interest in it.</p>
+
+<p>Every year caravans of tourists leave for Italy and the East; they go to
+gaze upon the remains of what was once the palace of the famous Zenobia,
+Queen of Palmyra, or to kill the lizards on the steps of the mouldering
+Coliseum; one invites the scorpions of Greece to bite his leg; another
+seeks the yellow fever in the Brazils; a third prefers being robbed in
+Calabria, or dying of thirst in the Deserts of Lybia;&mdash;the more distant
+and perilous the journey, the greater the pleasure of accomplishing it.
+Such is English taste.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Le Morvan is a charming and picturesque country&mdash;a lovely region,
+clad with verdure, flowers, and forest-trees, and watered by fresh,
+sparkling, and silvery streams, which every one can reach without
+fatigue, much expense, and without the slightest chance of danger, but
+perhaps, as I have before said, its proximity is its misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>Should any one after perusing this volume desire to visit Le Morvan, he
+should be aware that to do so with any degree of pleasure or profit it
+is absolutely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> necessary to speak French fluently,&mdash;for half our
+peasants are not in the least aware the earth is round, and that on it
+there are other nations besides their own. To see its thousand beauties,
+to fish its rivers and enter into its delightful, exciting and perilous
+sports, to plunge without hesitation into the depths of its forests, the
+traveller should also be accompanied by an experienced guide, and
+piloted by a friendly hand.</p>
+
+<p>Le Morvan, unknown to all to-day, would come forth quickly from the
+shell of obscurity in which it lies concealed, if some man of rank in
+England, led thither by hazard or caprice, were to spend a few weeks
+amidst its glades and vineyards, its mountains and its streams.</p>
+
+<p>What was Cannes twenty years since? who ever mentioned it in England,
+who knew its beauties? Nobody. Lord Brougham passes there, stops,
+selects a hill, crowns its top with a white <i>ch&acirc;teau</i>, scatters the gold
+from his purse, and sheds over the little town the lustre of the renown
+won by his versatile genius&mdash;Cannes immediately becomes the
+vogue&mdash;Cannes is charming, magnificent! Cannes, certainly, with her
+fields of jasmine and roses, her groves of orange-trees, her burning
+sun, blue skies and sea,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> and her warm pine-woods, is a delightful
+spot;&mdash;but Cannes is also a place of languor and sloth, a lavender-water
+country. If you have the gout, if you are old and rich, if you have
+delicate lungs, go to Cannes, your life will be agreeable but
+enervating.</p>
+
+<p>But Le Morvan is certainly not a country for a <i>petit-m&acirc;itre</i> or a
+delicate lady to live in; to enjoy yourself there you must have the fire
+and energy of youth in your veins, a stout heart, the lungs of a
+mountaineer, and a sinewy frame. You must love a forester's life, the
+hound and the rifle; you must be a Gordon Cumming in a small way. To the
+English invalid, I would recommend the ex-Chancellor's retreat; but to
+him who in the full sense of the term is a sporting man, or a lover of
+nature, I would say: Go&mdash;explore Le Morvan!</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<p class="center">
+<big>LIFE OF BEAU BRUMMELL</big>.<br />
+<br />
+A FEW COPIES OF THIS WORK ARE STILL ON HAND.<br />
+<br />
+Price 10s.; Published at &pound;1 8s.<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Saunders and Otley</span>; or <span class="smcap">Cawthorne's Library</span>,<br />
+Cockspur-street.<br /></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<p class="center">
+SHORTLY WILL BE PUBLISHED,<br />
+<br />
+A NEW AND VERY EASY METHOD<br />
+<br />
+<small>OF ASCERTAINING</small><br />
+<br />
+<big>THE GENDER OF FRENCH NOUNS,</big></p>
+
+<p class="t1">Translated from the Manuscript in French</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>OF THE</small><br />
+<br />
+LATE MONS. FOUCAULT,<br />
+<small>MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE,</small><br />
+<br />
+BY<br />
+<br />
+CAPTAIN JESSE,<br />
+<small>AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"<br />
+"MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.</small><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its
+Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild
+Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches
+
+Author: Henri de Crignelle
+
+Translator: Captain Jesse
+
+Release Date: April 21, 2009 [EBook #28573]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Greg Bergquist and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at
+http://gallica.bnf.fr)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
+preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+  LE MORVAN,
+
+  [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE,]
+
+  ITS
+
+  WILD SPORTS, VINEYARDS AND FORESTS;
+
+  WITH
+
+  Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches.
+
+  BY
+
+  HENRI DE CRIGNELLE,
+
+  ANCIEN OFFICIER DE DRAGONS.
+
+  TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT IN FRENCH,
+
+  BY
+
+  CAPTAIN JESSE,
+
+  AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"
+  "MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.
+
+  SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT-STREET.
+
+  1851.
+
+  LONDON:
+  PRINTED BY WILLIAM TYLER,
+  BOLT-COURT.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+Born in one of the most beautiful provinces of France, in a country of
+noble forests and extensive vineyards; brought up in the open air amidst
+the blue hills, and ever wandering over the fields and mountains with a
+gun on my arm--all the hours of my youth, if I may so say, were spent in
+search of partridges and hares in the dewy stubbles, and in the pursuit
+of the wild cat and the boar in the shady depths of the woods.
+
+When relating the adventures of these different shooting rambles to a
+friend, talking over with him our mode of sporting so different from
+that of England, and when in imagination I carried him along with me
+into the dells and dark ravines, and described to him the chase and
+death-struggle of the ferocious wolf, or the odd characters and
+antediluvian customs of the primitive people amongst whom I passed the
+days of my happy boyhood, astonished, he could hardly believe that such
+sports and such singular personages existed within so short a distance
+of his own country.
+
+"Why not scribble all this?" he would say, "your sketches would make
+capital light reading."
+
+"But to write is not easy; and, besides, what a poor figure I and my
+dogs and wolves, woodcocks and vineyards, would cut after the terrible
+Mr. Gordon Cumming. How could any description of mine interest the
+public in comparison with those of that famous shot and his three
+coffee-coloured Hottentots, with his bands of panthers and giraffes, his
+troops of yellow lions dancing sarabands round the fountains, and his
+jungles and swamps swarming with elephants and hippopotami?"
+
+"But we might be able to go to Le Morvan," said my friend, "whereas few
+indeed, if they wished it, can go to the South of Africa to shoot
+elephants through the small ribs; neither is it probable that many of us
+would like to pass several years of their valuable lives shut up in a
+loose, rolling, sea-bathing-machine-like wagon, with their own beloved
+shadow alone for all Christian company. Let us have a narrative of your
+exploits?"
+
+"You do not consider what you ask," I replied; "my gossip may have
+amused you, but the effusions of my pen would to a certainty make you
+yawn like graves."
+
+"Nonsense," whispered the flatterer, "you will open to us a new country,
+you will confer a real service upon hundreds of restless Englishmen, who
+when summer comes know not for the life of them where to go, or where
+not to go;--write your work, and advise them to turn their steps to Le
+Morvan at the time of the vintage."
+
+But now another, a huge difficulty, sprung up. Printers do not lend
+their types for nothing any more than they give gratis their time and
+paper. To publish a book is always an expensive affair; misfortune,
+which had touched me with its wing, which has been the sad guest of my
+house, deprived me of the power of undertaking it myself: and where to
+find a person so generous as to take upon himself the responsibility of
+the undertaking? Happily I was in England, in the land of kind hearts
+and warm sympathies. A noble lady, the mother of a distinguished English
+nobleman, who passes her life in doing good, took an interest in my
+forlorn history, and was pleased to honour me with her patronage. With
+this mantle of protection thrown around me, and my generous friend
+having undertaken to bear the responsibilities of publishing, the
+difficulties were soon swept away, and Le Morvan was written.
+
+I had hoped that I should in this Preface be permitted to mention her
+name, which would have been less a compliment to her than an honour to
+me; but her modesty has refused this public acknowledgment of my
+unbounded gratitude,--a veil of respectful reserve shall therefore
+remain suspended over her name. As for me and mine, we shall treasure it
+in our thankful hearts--every day shall we pray that the Great Giver of
+all good may confer upon her His most precious and gracious blessings.
+
+  HENRI DE CRIGNELLE.
+
+LONDON, _August_, 1851.
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+English propensity to ramble--Where and how--Le
+Morvan--Vezelay--Description of the town--Historical associations
+connected with it--Charles IX.--Persecutions of the Protestants--View
+from Vezelay--Scenery and wild sports--The Author--Object of the
+Work      _p._ 1
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Le Morvan--Forests--Climate--Patriarchs and Damosels--Peasants of the
+plain and the mountains--Jovial Cures--Their love of Burgundy--The
+Doctor and the Cure      14
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+Geology--Fossil shells--Antediluvian salmon--The Druids--Chindonax, the
+High Priest--Roman antiquities--Julius Caesar's hunting-box--Lugubrious
+village--Carre-les-Tombes--The Inquisitive Andalusian      26
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+Le Morvan during the Middle Ages--Legendary horrors--Forest of La
+Goulotte--La Croix Chavannes--La Croix Mordienne--Hotel de
+Chanty--Chateau de Lomervo--A French Bluebeard--Citadel of Lingou      35
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Castle of Bazoche--Marechal de Vauban--Relics of the old
+Marshal--Memorials of Philipsburg--Hotel de Bazarne--Madame de
+Pompadour's maitre d'hotel--Proof of the _cures'_ grief--Farm of St.
+Hibaut--Youthful recollections--Monsieur de Cheribalde--Navarre the
+Four-Pounder--His culverin      43
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Bird's-eye view of the forests--The student's visit to his uncle in the
+country--Sallies forth in the early morning--Meets a cuckoo--Follows
+him--The cuckoo too much for him--Gives up the pursuit--Finds he has
+lost his way--Agreeable vespers--Night in the forest--Wolves--Up a beech
+tree--A friend in need--The student bids adieu to Le Morvan      55
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Charms of a forest life to the sportsman--The Poachers--Le Pere
+Seguin--His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers--The first buck--A
+bad shot      65
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+Le Pere Seguin's collation--The young sportsman and the hare--The
+quarrel--The apology--The reconciliation--The cemetery--Bait for
+barbel--Le Pere Seguin's deceased friends--The return home      75
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+Passage of the woodcock in November--Laziness of that bird--Night
+travelling--Mode of snaring them at night--Numbers taken in this
+way--This sport adapted rather for the poacher--The _braconnier_ of Le
+Morvan--His mode of life--The poacher's dog--The double poacher      88
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+The woodcock--Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan--Aversion of dogs
+to this bird--Timidity of the woodcock--Its cunning--Shooting in
+November--The Woodcock mates--The Woodcock fly      100
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Fine names--Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages--Gustavus Adolphus no
+hero!--The Parisian Sportsman--Partridge shooting despicable--Wild
+boar-hunting--Rousing the grisly monster--His approach--The post of
+honour--Good nerves--The death--The trophy and congratulations      117
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+The _Mares_--Manner in which they are formed in the depths of the
+forest--_Mare_ No. 1.--Description of it--The appearance of the
+spot--Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge--Approach of the
+birds--Animals that frequent the _Mares_ in the evening      141
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+Appearance of the _Mare_ in the morning--Forest etiquette--Mode of
+obtaining possession of the best _Mare_--Every subterfuge fair--The
+jocose sportsman--The quarrel--Reveries in the hut--Comparison between
+meeting a lady and watching for a wolf      157
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_Mare_ No. 2.--Description of it--Not sought after by the sportsman--The
+sick banker--The doctor's prescription--The patient's disgust at it--Is
+at length obliged to yield--Leaves Paris for Le Morvan--Consequences to
+the inmates of the chateau--The banker convalescent      170
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Summer months in the Forest--_Mare_ No. 3.--Description of it--The
+Woodcock fly--The Banker has a day's sport--Arrives at the
+_Mare_--Difficult to please in his choice of a hut--Proceeds to a larger
+_Mare_--His friends retire--The Banker on the alert for a Wolf or a
+Boar--Fires at some animal--The unfortunate discovery--Rage of the
+Parisian--Pays for his blunder, and recovers his temper      188
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The _Cure_ of the Mountain--Toby Gold Button--Hospitality--The _Cure's_
+pig--His hard fate and reflections--The _Cure_ of the plain--His worth
+and influence--The agent of the Government--Landed Proprietors--Their
+influence--The Orator--Dialogue with a Peasant      207
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+The wolf--His aspect and extreme ferocity--His cunning in hunting his
+prey--His unsocial nature--Antiquity of the race--Where found, and their
+varieties--Annihilated in England by the perseverance of the kings and
+people--Decrees and rewards to encourage their destruction by
+Athelstane, John, and Edward I.--Death of the last wolf in
+England--Death of the last in Ireland      221
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+The _battues_ of May and December--The gathering of
+sportsmen--Preparations in the forest--The _charivari_--The fatal
+rush--Excitement of the moment--The volley--The day's triumph, and the
+reward--The peasants returning--Hunting the wolf with
+dogs--Cub-hunting--The drunken wolf      236
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement--The _Traquenard_--Mode of setting
+this trap--A night in the forest with Navarre--The young lover--Dreadful
+accident that befell him--His courage and efforts to escape--The fatal
+catastrophe--The poor mad mother      248
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+Shooting wolves in the summer--The most approved baits to attract
+them--Fatal error--Hut-shooting--Silent joviality--The approach of the
+wolves--The first volley--The retreat--The final slaughter--The
+sportsman's reward--The farm-yard near St. Hibaut--The dead colt--The
+onset--Scene in the morning--Horrible accident--The gallant
+farmer--Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant--The wolf-skin
+drum--Anathema of the naturalists      261
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalist--The _Gour_ of Akin--The English
+lady--The mountain streams--Chateau de Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of
+killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens
+of the grotto--Chateau des Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and
+lakes of Lomervo--Mode of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch
+farmer      280
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+Village _fetes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The _Fete
+Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in them--Procession
+from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at them--Pictures of the
+Roman Catholic Church--Before the _Vendange_--Proprietor's hopes and
+fears--Shooting in the vineyards--The first day of the
+_Vendange_--Appearance of the country--Influx of visitors at this
+season--The consequences--Herminie--Her sad history--Le
+Morvan--Recommended to the English traveller--Lord Brougham and
+Cannes--Contrast between it and Le Morvan      297
+
+
+
+
+
+LE MORVAN.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+     English propensity to ramble--Where and how--Le
+     Morvan--Vezelay--Description of the town--Historical associations
+     connected with it--Charles IX.--Persecutions of the
+     Protestants--View from Vezelay--Scenery and wild sports--The
+     Author--Object of the Work.
+
+
+Every nation has its characteristics, and amongst those which are
+peculiar to the genius of the English people, is their ardent and
+insatiable love of wandering.
+
+To locomote is absolutely necessary to every Englishman; in his heart is
+profoundly rooted a passion for long journeys; each and all of them, old
+and young, healthy and sickly, would if they could take not merely the
+grand tour, but circulate round the two hemispheres with all the
+pleasure imaginable. At a certain period of the year, when the
+weathercock points the right way, the sun burns in the sign of the
+Lion, and the husbandman bends his weary form to gather in the golden
+corn, the legs of the rich Englishman begin to be nervously agitated, he
+feels a sense of suffocation, and pants for change--of air, of place, of
+everything; he girds up his loins, and without throwing a glance behind
+him, it is Hey, Presto! begone! and he is off. Where?
+
+It is autumn, blessed autumn, the season of harvest and sunny days; the
+English are everywhere--they fly from their own dear island like clouds
+of chilly swallows, light upon Europe as thick as thrushes in an
+orchard, and are soon mingled with every nation of the earth, like the
+blue corn flowers in the ripe barley fields. Yes, from north to south,
+from east to west, go where you will, you cannot proceed ten miles
+without meeting a smiling rosy English girl coquettishly concealed under
+her large green veil, and a grave British gentleman, whistling to the
+wide world in the sheer enjoyment of having nothing to do but to look at
+it.
+
+I have seen green veils climbing the Pyramids; I have seen green veils
+diving down into the dark mines of the Oural; I have seen an English
+gentleman perched like a chamois on the top of St. Bernard, hat in hand,
+roaring "God save the Queen." I have seen some sipping Syracusan wine,
+puffing a comfortable cloud from obese cigars, most irreverently seated
+in the big nose of St. Carlo Borromeo. One-half of England is gone to
+China, the other half to Africa; these will speak to you of Kamschatka,
+those of the mountains of the Moon, just as a London cockney or a
+Parisian _badaud_ would speak to you of Greenwich or of Bagnolet. Some
+have boxed with the bears of the Pyrenees; others have killed lions and
+tigers by dozens; one has crossed the Nile on a crocodile, another vows
+he waltzed with a dying hippopotamus, and several have bagged
+camelopards and elephants by scores. In short, they have trodden with a
+bold disdainful step all the high-roads and by-roads of our wondrous
+planet, displaying, in every quarter of the compass, the daring and
+devil-may-care spirit of their youth and the spleen of their mature age,
+as well as the yellow guineas from their long and well-filled purses.
+
+Well, then, ask of all this wandering tribe, who boast of having been
+everywhere, and seen everything; ask those travelling birds who have
+flown through France and Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Palestine;
+who have sledged in Russia and fished in Norway; who have lost
+themselves in the prairies of the far West, or in the Pampas, the
+gorges of the Andes, or the Alleghanies; who have bronzed their
+epidermis in the fierce heat of the tropics, or moistened their fair
+_chevelure_ in the diamond spray of Niagara; who have, in fine,
+journeyed through calm and hurricane, snow-storms, sirocco, and simoom;
+who have rubbed noses--male noses--of the tattooed savage; mounted
+donkeys, ostriches, camelopards, lamas, and dromedaries; mules, wild
+asses, negroes, and elephants; ask them all if once in their lives--one
+single once--they have seen or even heard of LE MORVAN?
+
+Not one of these thousands will answer yes. Le Morvan, where is it? what
+is Le Morvan? Is it a mountain, a church, a river, a star, a flower, a
+bird? Le Morvan, who knows anything about Le Morvan? Echo answers, "Who
+knows?" Paddy Blake's replies, "Nobody." And yet all of you roving
+English, who delight in athletic sports and rural scenes--the forest
+glade and murmuring streams, a view halloo and the gallant hound; who
+love the bleak and healthy moors, the cool retreats, the flowery paths,
+and mountain solitudes, how happy would you be in Le Morvan. Where,
+then, is Le Morvan?
+
+Le Morvan is a district of France, in which are included portions of the
+departments of the Nievre and the Yonne, having on the west the
+vineyards of Burgundy, and on the east the mountains of the Nivernois.
+Its ancient and picturesque capital, Vezelay, crowns a hill 2,000 feet
+in height, and commands a panoramic view of the country for thirty miles
+round. It has all the characteristics of a town of the feudal times,
+with high embattled and loopholed walls, numerous towers, and deep and
+strong gateways, under which are still to be seen the grooves of the
+portcullis, the warder's guard-room, and the hooks that supported the
+heavy drawbridge.
+
+The capital of Le Morvan partially owed its rise to a celebrated
+nunnery, founded by Gerard de Roussillon, a great hero of romance and
+chivalry, who lived, loved, and fought under Pepin, the father of the
+grand Charlemagne. This nunnery, which was sacked and burnt to the
+ground by the Saracens, those terrible warriors of the East, was
+restored in the ninth century, and fortified; and as the sainted inmates
+were believed to have amongst their relics a tress of the golden hair of
+the beautiful and repentant Magdalen, troops of the faithful--and people
+were ready to believe a great deal in those days--flocked to Vezelay,
+when it soon became a large and flourishing town.
+
+In the tenth century, when the people, in their endeavour to shake off
+a few links of their fetters, refused to bend their bodies in the dust
+before their lords and their minds before their priests--when the seeds
+of liberty, till then lying in unprofitable ground, though watered for
+centuries by the tears of tyranny and oppression, first germinated and
+rose above the earth, who gave the signal of resistance in France?--the
+inhabitants of Vezelay. Yes; it is to her citizens that the honour
+belongs of having first refused to submit to the power, the domineering
+power, of political and ecclesiastical rule; it was her brave
+inhabitants who, assembling in secret, thought not of the peril, but,
+having promised help and protection one to the other, flew to arms. A
+short and desperate struggle ensued, but the victory remained in the
+hands of the abbot of Vezelay. Hundreds of brave men were put, without
+mercy, to the sword, and many, with less mercy, burnt alive or died by
+the torture in the dark dungeons of the abbatical palace. Vezelay still
+preserves in its archives the names of twelve of these martyrs.
+
+Again in the twelfth century, when the cry to the rescue of the Holy
+Sepulchre shook all Europe, and every nation poured forth her tens of
+thousands to drive the infidel from that land in which their Redeemer
+had lived and died an ignominious and cruel death, it was at Vezelay
+that Pope Eugenius III. assembled a great council of the princes of the
+church, the great barons, and chivalry of those times. It was in her
+immense cathedral, one of the oldest and largest in the kingdom, amidst
+the clang of arms, war cries, and religious chaunts, and in the presence
+of Louis le Jeune, King of France, that St. Bernard preached, in 1146,
+the Second Crusade.
+
+Vezelay is celebrated as having been the birth-place of Beza, the great
+Protestant Reformer (1519), who succeeded not only to the place but to
+the influence of Calvin, and was, after that eminent man's death,
+regarded as the head and leader of the Genevese church.
+
+It was to Vezelay, the only town that dared to offer them the protection
+of its walls, that the unfortunate Protestants fled after the horrible
+massacre of St. Bartholomew's--the base political cruelty of the brutal
+homicide, Charles IX. Tracked and hunted down like wild beasts, and a
+price set upon their heads, they found staunch and noble hearts in the
+inhabitants of Vezelay; but, ere long, an army of their insatiable foes
+arrived and besieged the town, and treachery at a postern one stormy
+night made them masters of it, when scenes of horror followed under the
+mask of religion that even at this distance of time make one recoil with
+terror and disgust at the dogmas of the corrupt faith which dictated
+them.
+
+Roasting men alive, and boiling women, dashing out the brains of many a
+cherub boy and prattling girl, was the pleasing and satisfactory pastime
+with which Pope Gregory, Catherine de Medicis, and her congenial son
+gladdened their Christian hearts. The blood of their victims still cries
+to us from the ground of their Golgotha; for on the south side of the
+town there is a large green field, called _Le Champ des Huguenots_. The
+damning fact, from which this spot received its name, has been handed
+down to us by the historian. It is as follows:
+
+The Catholics, having instituted a strict search in the woods and
+caverns of the environs, made so many prisoners that they were puzzled
+what to do with them--nay, in what manner they should take their lives.
+Among many ingenious experiments, it was suggested that they should bury
+them alive up to their necks in the field to which we have alluded; and
+this was accordingly done with nine of them, whose heads were bowled at
+with cannon-balls taken from the adjoining rampart, as if they had been
+blocks of wood instead of live human heads. The shrieks of the
+miserable beings excited no compassion; on the contrary, it afforded
+amusement to their executioners: so that games of skittles upon the same
+principle were played the whole length of this meadow.
+
+Turning aside from these execrable deeds of man to the works of Nature
+and of Nature's God, which have always been and always must be lovely
+and worthy of our deepest admiration, let us dwell for a moment upon the
+splendid view from the castle-terrace, which forms the principal
+promenade of Vezelay. Shaded by large and venerable trees, through the
+lofty branches of which many a storm has howled for nearly four hundred
+years, the sight from hence is one of the finest panoramic views in
+France.
+
+All around, whether on the slope of the hills by the river-side, in the
+middle distance, or near the mountains which form the horizon, are seen
+hundreds of little villages, and many a white villa scattered among the
+green vines as daisies on the turf. To the left and right are St. Pere
+and Akin, two hamlets, which seem like faithful dogs sleeping at the
+foot of the mountain crowned by Vezelay. The province in which this
+cloud-capped fortress-town is situated is a retired spot out of the
+beaten track of the tourist, the man of business, or the man of
+pleasure--lost, as it were, in the very heart of beautiful France, like
+a wild strawberry in the depth of the forest--encircled by woods, and
+unknown to the foreigner, who, in his rapid journey to Geneva or to
+Lyons, almost elbows it without dreaming of its existence.
+
+Le Morvan rears in its sylvan depths a population of hardy and honest
+men and lovely women, fresh as roses, and gay as butterflies. There the
+soft evening breezes are charged with the songs of ten thousand birds,
+the odours of the eglantine, the lily of the valley, and the violet,
+which, shaking off its winter slumbers, opens its dark blue eye and
+combines its perfume with that of its snowy companion.
+
+Le Morvan is a country that would delight an Englishman, for it is full
+of game; here the sportsman may vary his pleasures as fancy dictates.
+The forest abounds with deer; the plain with rabbits and the timid hare;
+and in the vineyards, during the merry season of the vintage, the fat
+red-stockinged and gray-clad partridges are bagged by bushels. Here the
+sportsman may watch in the open glades the treacherous wild cat and the
+bounding roebuck; and, should these sports appear too tame, he may, if
+foot and heart are sound, plunge into the dark recesses of the forest
+in pursuit of the savage and grisly boar, or the fierce and prowling
+wolf.
+
+When evening comes, bringing with it peace and rest to the industrious
+peasant, when the moon shall light her bright lamp in the star-spangled
+heavens, and shed her silvery rays across the plain, the hunter may lead
+forth the village belle, and foot it merrily on the mossy greensward, to
+the sound of the bagpipe and the rustic flute, by fountains which never
+cease their monotonous but soothing plaint, and under the long shadows
+of the ancient oaks and tall acacias.
+
+Happiness, says Solomon, consists not in the possession of that gold for
+which men toil so unremittingly and grave deep wrinkles on the heart and
+brow. Happiness lights not her torch at the crystal lustres in the halls
+of royalty; she rarely chooses for her home the marble palaces of the
+wealthy, nor is she often the companion of the great, robed in costly
+apparel; rarely does she braid her hair with pearls, or wear the rosy
+lightning of the ruby on her fair bosom.
+
+Happiness is known only to him who, free and contented, lives unknown in
+his little corner, deaf to the turmoil and insensible to the excitements
+of the selfish crowd, and ignorant of the sorrows and sufferings of
+great cities. She is found in the enjoyment of the sunshine and the open
+air, in the shady groves and flowery fields, by the side of the
+murmuring brooks, and in the society of the gay, frank, and
+simple-minded peasant of my own dear country. Oh! my white and pretty
+_pavillon_, whose walls are clad with fragrant creepers and the luscious
+vine, whose porch is scented with the woodbine and the rose--oh! lovely
+valleys, dark forests, deep blue lakes which sleep unruffled in the
+bosom of the hills, beautiful vine-clad hills, where in the morning of
+my youth I chased those flying flowers, the bright and painted
+butterflies--oh! when, when shall I see you all again--like the bird of
+passage, which, when the winter is over, returns to his sunny home? When
+shall I see thee again? Oh! my sweet Le Morvan! Oh! my native land!
+Happy, thrice happy they who cherish in their hearts the love of nature,
+who prefer her sublime and incomparable beauties to the false and
+artificial works of man, accumulated with so much cost and care within
+the walls of her great cities. Happy, too, are those who have not been
+carried away by the fatal flood of misfortune from the paternal hearth,
+who have always lived in sight of that home which sheltered their merry
+childhood, and whose lives, pure and peaceful as the noiseless stream of
+the valley, close in calmness and serenity like the twilight of a bright
+summer's day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+     Le Morvan--Forests--Climate--Patriarchs and Damosels--Peasants of
+     the plain and the mountaineer--Jovial Cures--Their love of
+     Burgundy--The Doctor and the Cure.
+
+
+Le Morvan, anciently Morvennium, or Pagus Morvinus, as Caesar calls it in
+his Commentaries, comprises, as we have before remarked, a portion of
+the departments of the Nievre and the Yonne, lying between vine-clad
+Burgundy and the mountains of the Nivernois. Its productions are
+various; in the plains are grown wheat, rye, hemp, oats, and flax: on
+the mountain side the grape is largely cultivated; and in the valleys
+are rich verdant meadows, where countless droves of oxen, knee-deep in
+the luxuriant grass, feed and fatten in peace and abundance.
+
+But the real and inexhaustible wealth of Le Morvan is in its forests. In
+these several thousand trees are felled annually, sawn into logs,
+branded and thrown by cart-loads into the neighbouring torrent, which,
+on reaching a more tranquil stream, are lashed into rafts, when they
+drift onwards to the Seine, and are eventually borne on the waters of
+that river to the capital. The forests of the Nievre are some of the
+most extensive in France; thick and dark, and formed of ancient oaks,
+maple, and spreading beech, they cover nearly 200,000 acres of ground.
+Those of the Yonne are larger but of a character far less wild.
+
+The climate of this part of France is delightful; with the exception of
+occasional showers, very little rain falls; the sky is serene, and
+scarcely ever is a vagabond cloud seen in the ethereal blue to throw a
+shadow upon the lovely landscape beneath. For six months of the year the
+sun is daily refulgent in the heavens, and sets evening after evening in
+all his glorious majesty. But in the woods it is not thus; the storms
+there are sometimes terrible, and, like those of the tropics, arise and
+terminate with wonderful rapidity. These tempests, which purify the
+atmosphere, leave behind them a delicious coolness, the trees and
+shrubs, as they shake from their trembling leaves their sparkling tears,
+appear so bright--the flowers which raise again their drooping heads,
+load the air with such delightful odours--the whole forest, in short,
+seems so refreshed and full of life, that every one hails their
+approach, the toil-worn peasant breathes without complaint the sultry
+air, and observes with pleasure the dark and lowering clouds gathering
+in the far horizon.
+
+From the mountains, those huge ladders of granite that God has planted
+upon the earth, as if to invite ungrateful man to come nearer to him,
+descend many a stream and dancing rill of pure and crystal waters. No
+part of France can be said to be more salubrious. "Centenarians" are by
+no means uncommon, and a patriarch of that age may be found in several
+families.
+
+When Sunday comes, always a _jour de fete_ as well as a day of prayer,
+it is very pleasing to see one of these venerable men, dressed in his
+best clothes, walking to church at the head of his children,
+grand-children, and great grand-children. Long and of snowy whiteness is
+his hair, and glossy white as threads of purest silver is his beard--his
+hat, of quaker broadness in the brim, is generally encircled, in the
+early days of Spring, with a wreath of the common primrose, and his dark
+cloth mantle, of home-spun fabric, hangs gracefully on his shoulders,
+showing underneath it the dark red sash that girds his still healthy and
+vigorous frame. Tall and grave, erect and majestic as the oaks of their
+native forests, these patriarchs bespeak every one's respect, and when
+looking on them you might imagine they were men of another age, a
+generation of by-gone years, you might fancy them some ancient Druids
+that have escaped from their dusty tombs, from centuries of night, to
+tread once more the pathways of this planet.
+
+And the women, heaven and earth! how sweetly pretty, how amiable and
+adorable; and such eyes, dark and lustrous!--full of witchcraft, burning
+and humid as an April sun after a shower. Some there are, also, of
+pensive blue, pregnant with promises, soft and almond-shaped, like the
+divine eyes of the Italian Cenci. Supple as the young and slender
+branches of willow, are these divinities, fresh as new opened tulips,
+and brisk and gay as the golden-speckled trout in the sparkling current.
+In their charms is found a terrestrial paradise, a compound of delicious
+qualities which intoxicate the senses, hook the heart, and like the bite
+of the Sicilian tarantella, steep the loved one in delirium.
+
+Yes, the women of Le Morvan are lovely, ardent, and tender-hearted as
+the dove, especially those who dwell within the forest districts; for
+nothing contributes so much to bring forth the loving principle of the
+affections as the silent melancholy of the umbrageous woods, and the
+soft and perfumed breezes that pervade them. Here, in the dusk and
+stillness of the summer evenings, these wood-nymphs hear in the lofty
+branches of the linden, the endearing love songs of the feathered tribe,
+and when night throws its charitable gloom over their blushing cheeks,
+they whisper at the trysting place what they have heard and seen to
+their rustic admirers.
+
+We have just briefly sketched the two extremes, the old men of Le Morvan
+and its sprightly damosels: we must now mention the inhabitants
+generally, and these vary like its productions according to locality.
+The peasant of the plains is civil, gentle, and industrious, but cunning
+and dangerous as an old fox; and if he thinks money may be squeezed from
+your pocket, be sure there will be no sleep for him till he has taken
+some out of it. Full of fun, he loves above all the dance, the song, the
+merry laugh, and good cheer--and the uncorking of a bottle would be for
+him a supreme delight, if this excellence itself was not superseded, by
+the far greater blessedness of emptying it.
+
+The inhabitant of the mountain, on the other hand, is sober, severe and
+roughly barked--clothed with silence and gravity, smiling but once a
+year--the day he has cheated a good man of the plain; he does not please
+so much at first sight: but if in any danger, if you are surprised by a
+hurricane, surrounded with wolves; or you have lost your way, in a night
+as dark as the grave itself, you call and ask his help, oh! it is then
+that his sterling qualities shine forth in all their splendour. Always
+ready, always on the look out, the ear for ever bent to catch the
+well-known sounds of the forest, the slightest indication of distress
+awakes his vigilance; it is then he comes, it is then he flies, and his
+arm, gun, and eyes--his cabin, dog, and lean horse are all at your
+command.
+
+Admirable example of courage and of devotedness: money for him is
+nothing; happy to be useful, he obliges for the mere pleasure of
+obliging. Many, many times have I seen poachers, cottagers,
+charcoal-burners, and wood-cutters, poor as Job, hardly breeched, hungry
+as a whole Irish borough, leave their work, their sport, their field,
+their tree half down,--abandon in the roads, under the guard of the
+dogs, their carts and oxen, and go some dozen of miles, through storm
+and tempest, through rush, rock, and swamp, to set a sportsman in his
+right way again. Without saying a word, with steps attendant on his
+weary progress, they trudge on before, making a sign for him to follow;
+and when they have placed him once more on his road, a nod, a shake of
+the hand, a smile, a kind word falling from his lips, pays them the full
+price of all their troubles. Never have I seen one of them accept the
+least pecuniary reward for such services--they do nothing but their
+duty, they say; and as they are happy in the firm conviction that the
+whole forest belongs to them, they think they are only doing the honours
+of their green drawing-rooms. Thus it always happens, that when, by
+their good care, you have escaped certain danger, it is with great
+difficulty, and only after a deluge of rhetoric, that they consent to
+accept for their daughters or wives a red wool dress, a gold cross, or a
+row of large blue Pundaram beads; or for themselves a few dozen of iron
+bullets, a bag of shot, or a flask of powder. This abnegation, this
+frankness of the heart, this kind sympathy for every stranger, is
+universal among the mountaineers; these benevolent and kindly feelings
+are a portion of their holy traditions, and as such are most religiously
+grafted by every mother into the soft wax-like hearts of her dear little
+ones.
+
+But while delighting to describe the virtues of these denizens of the
+forests, these amiable fauns and jolly satyrs, I must not forget those
+jovial trencher-men, the _cures_ of Le Morvan. Every sportsman
+possesses, or should possess, the digestion of an ostrich; for his
+appetite is generally prodigious, and the viands that fall in his way
+are not always the most savoury. When, however, the venison pasty, the
+truffled turkey, or the _pain de gibier_ is within his reach, no one is
+so capable of enjoying and doing justice to these delicacies of the
+table, of knocking off so dexterously the neck of the champagne bottle
+when the corkscrew is absent, or whose legs are stretched out so
+gracefully at the sight of brimming glasses and _recherche_ viands.
+
+In these, his fallen moments, and after a good day's sport, a Morvinian
+would tell you he could drink all the Burgundian cellars dry,--aye, and
+those of Champagne too; and as to smoking, why, he would smoke a whole
+crop of tobacco.
+
+To all keen sportsmen, therefore, who love good eating and wine, and
+intend to pay a visit to Le Morvan, I would give this piece of advice,
+and I would say to them, place it in the secret drawer of your memory;
+nay, carry it written, and, if necessary, painted on your knapsack or
+scratched upon your gun--fail not to make the acquaintance of the _cure_
+the darling _cures_. Ask who are they that love the best _cuisine_--who
+dote upon the most delicious morsels--who will have the oldest, purest,
+and most generous wines?--you will be answered, the _cures_. For whom
+are destined the largest trout, the fattest capons, and the best parts
+of the venison?--for whom the softest and most choice liqueurs, wine of
+the best _bouquet_, the largest truffles, the most luscious honey, the
+best vegetables, and finest fruits?--for the _cures_. And the most
+clever men-cooks, the happiest receipts, and latest culinary
+inventions--for whom are they? the answer is always, _for messieurs les
+cures_. Forget them not, therefore, for they are really worth
+remembering; besides, they have excellent hearts and are capital
+fellows, boon companions, full of _bonhommie_ and good-nature: in fact,
+such _cures_ it is impossible to find anywhere else.
+
+But the great Architect of the universe has said, nothing is
+perfect--everything human has its weak point. Well, it cannot be helped,
+and it must be told, the _cures_ of Le Morvan have their weak points;
+trifles, to be sure--mere bagatelles--but still they have them. They are
+rather _too_ fond of old wine and good cheer. These two charming little
+defects excepted,--you have in the Morvinian _cure_ goodness double
+distilled, and the essence of generosity, and, be it said, abnegation.
+This love of the bottle they imbibe from their dear colleagues of
+Burgundy; for it is well known, and has never been disputed, that the
+Burgundian _cures_ are the greatest exterminators, uncorkers, and
+emptiers of wine-bottles in all Christendom. The first thing these
+jovial clergymen think of when they open their eyes in the morning, is
+an invocation to Bacchus, somewhat in the following strain: "O Bacchus!
+son of Semele, divine wine-presser! O vineyards! full of the purple
+grape! O wine-press! inestimable machine!" &c. Their second movement is
+to extend the right arm, and clasp within their digits a flask of old
+Pouilli, the contents of which they swallow without once stopping to
+take breath. "An infallible remedy," say they, "against the devil and
+all future indigestions."
+
+Fortified thus with this their first orison, they throw on their
+cassock, and descend to the cellar, to count the bottles, or tap and
+taste the barrels of some doubtful vintage. The thorough-bred Burgundian
+_cure_, particularly one who has lived and got old and fat in the
+solitude of a retired presbytery,--whose rubicund nose reveals his
+admiration for the vineyards of his native province, and whose three
+chins tell you that with pullets, and venison, and clouted cream he has
+lined his scrip,--is certainly one of the most jovial and best of men.
+
+Ask him for indulgences, absolution, masses and prayers for the living
+and the dead; he will grant them all. Ask him for his niece in marriage;
+ask him to marry you, to baptize you, to bury you; he will do it
+all--yes, all for nothing! It is not in his nature to refuse anything.
+Ask him for his new cassock, his cane, or his hat, his black silk
+stockings, or his silver buckles, and they are yours. No one so ready to
+forgive an insult or forget an injury as he. But, by the blood of the
+Mirabels, give him not a bottle of bad or sour wine, for he will neither
+forget nor forgive it; and above all things, never give him a hint that
+it would be well if he gave up his favourite fluid, for be assured, you
+would forfeit his friendship for ever. Sooner would he consent to lose a
+leg or all his teeth, than give up his life-loved Burgundy! Tell him he
+will have an attack of apoplexy; tell him that he will be taken off
+suddenly by inflammation, and that water therefore should be his
+beverage; he will reply with a smack of his lips, and a castanet noise
+with his fingers. "Nonsense, my boy--stuff and rubbish! Pass the wine,
+my son; pass it again. Pass the ham, gentlemen. Fill a bumper. Hurrah
+for old Burgundy! hurrah for her wines! Confound the pale fluid, and a
+fig for the gout!" Such are the ebullitions of his heart in his jovial
+moments; and the following lines, which would spoil in the translation,
+give a lively picture of them:
+
+  "Pour trop bien boire un cure de Bourgogne
+  De son pauvre oeil se trouvait deferre,
+  Un docteur vint:--Voici de la besogne
+  Dit-il, pour plus d'un jour;--Je patienterai!
+  Ca vous boirez:--Eh bien! soit, je boirai!
+  Quatre grands mois:--Plutot douze, mon maitre.
+  Cette tisane!--A moi? hurla le pretre,
+  _Vade retro!_ Guerir par le poison!
+  Non, par ma soif! perdons une fenetre,
+  Puisqu'il le faut, mais--_Sauvons la Maison_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+     Geology--Fossil shells--Antediluvian salmon--The Druids--Chindonax,
+     the High Priest--Roman antiquities--Julius Caesar's
+     hunting-box--Lugubrious village--Carre-les-Tombes--The Inquisitive
+     Andalusian.
+
+
+Le Morvan, independently of its hunting and fishing, its lovely climate
+and fine wines, pretty girls and jolly _cures_, possesses a more
+important class of beauties and perfections, secrets and enigmas, over
+which the _savans_ would pore and ponder through many a day and many a
+night: those men who, like Eve, long to grasp the fatal apple--the apple
+which destroys while it attracts--the apple whose flavour, alas! is so
+bitter,--the apple of science. Let the geologists, who are ever bending
+in earnest study over the mysteries of nature, and breaking stones by
+the road-side,--who are ever seeking to analyse the _materiel_ of
+creation,--who are always contemplating the internal and geognostic
+constitution of the globe, the red or the blue clay, the yellow gravel,
+the trappe, the limestone, the granite, or the slate, to satisfy
+themselves what this poor planet is made of,--let them come and ransack
+Le Morvan. Let them bring their hammers and chisels, their compasses and
+barometers, and above all, their passport,--precious document! an
+hundredfold more useful in France, in these liberty days, than a pair of
+shoes or a shirt,--let them come, and I promise them endless
+discoveries, a rich and ample harvest.
+
+In the meadow lands, when, for the purpose of sinking wells, the soil is
+penetrated to an immense depth, the workmen often come to thick strata
+of schist, in which they find imbedded trunks and roots of trees, and
+stalks of plants and ferns, which now grow in tropical climates only.
+
+In the highest and steepest parts of the mountain chain may be found
+marine petrifactions of every variety--the sea-hedgehog, the oyster, the
+mussel, and the star-fish; and in the beds of trachytic rock, deposited
+in such order that one might fancy they had been placed there by a
+careful and tasty housewife, are layers of the most curious shells,
+univalve, bivalve, sublivalve and multivalve, madrepors, and shapeless
+remnants of creatures now no longer known, and petrified fish.
+
+Some few years ago, an engineer, who was carrying a road through a rock
+in the mountain called the Val d'Arcy, found a salmon in the most
+perfect condition, even with head and tail, the unhappy wretch enclosed
+in the heart of a large stone. I should certainly have pronounced this
+fish to be a cod, had not science decided it was a salmon of a large
+species--_genus salmo_, sixty vertebrae. It is now to be seen in the
+Natural History department, section _Salmonidae_, of the Museum in the
+Jardin des Plantes, at Paris.
+
+Poor old salmon! said I, and I took off my hat when I had the honour of
+being presented to him; Poor old salmon! what wouldst thou have said,
+some twelve or fifteen thousand years ago, when, free and glorious thou
+didst pierce the briny waves,--when, perhaps, thou wast gambolling
+amongst the pointed summits of the Alps, plunging in ecstacy into the
+emerald depths of oceans now vanished,--what wouldst thou have said,
+could the thought have crossed thy brain, that one day thou shouldst be
+_here_? Under a glass! ticketted, numbered, pasted to the wall! forming
+an item in a collection of things fabulous, and exhibiting thy venerable
+form, thine antediluvian physiognomy, to thousands of _badauds_, who
+either pass thee without a glance, or examine thee with unfeeling
+curiosity, bestowing not a thought upon thy great age or thy cruel fate,
+or with a whit more respect for thee and thine awful history, than a
+cockney would show to a whitebait caught but yesterday in the Thames,
+and served up to him as a fraction of his fishy feast at Blackwall.
+
+Le Morvan, abounding in forests, was a district most congenial to the
+gloomy spirit of the religion of the ancient Druids; and therefore, in
+the earliest days of the history of France, they consecrated its groves
+of splendid oaks to the performance of their terrible rites. Remains of
+many of their massive monuments still exist, in the fields, in the deep
+valleys, and on the tops of the hills. Antique and mysterious all of
+them--three-pointed stones, three-cornered stones, and massive groups of
+stones in mystic circle ranged, round which, the peasant will tell you
+with bated breath, _les Gaurics_--the spirits of the giants--come to
+weep and bewail on the first night of each new moon. During the last
+century, a peasant, who was at work in a deep ditch in a beautiful field
+of this district, came, in the course of his excavations, upon a stone
+which indicated, that he was not far from one of those monuments with
+which he was so familiar; and, upon further investigation, it proved to
+be the black granite tomb of the famous Chindonax, the high-priest of
+the Druids. It contained many relics--the sickle and the collar of
+gold, the holy bracelets, the metal girdle, the sacrificial axe, the
+knife of brass; and, in the midst, was a glass urn, containing a pinch
+or two of grey powder--human dust! proud dust--sad and last remnant of
+the Druid Chindonax.
+
+Tumuli were, a century ago, very numerous in the uncultivated and desert
+tract of Les Bruyeres; but these little artificial hillocks are
+disappearing very fast, for the peasants throw them down when they wish
+to clear and level the ground. These tumuli always contain collars in
+baked clay, arrow-heads, battle-axes of stone, pieces of crystal, and
+other articles of a similar description.
+
+Even Julius Caesar, the cruel conqueror of Gaul, the pitiless victor of
+Vercingetorix--Caesar, who cut off the hands of the Gauls as the only
+means of preventing them from fighting--Caesar admired Le Morvan. He
+loved that savage country, he delighted in it; in the deep gorges of its
+mountains he pursued the large wolves and the wild boar, and in it he
+established the custom of relays of dogs the whole length of the woods.
+
+In this our day, on the summit of a mountain near the one on which is
+built the town of Chinon, may be seen the thick strong walls of ancient
+Roman buildings--buildings that have been fortified, bristling with
+palisades, and surrounded by moats--where Caesar had his principal
+kennel, his hunting-box; in short, the spot which, in the third book of
+his 'Commentaries,' he calls _Castrum Caninum_.
+
+In the darkest and most sombre part of this forest, the lovers of
+antiquity will arrest their steps, delighted, at the very curious
+village of Carre-les-Tombes, so called from the immense number of tombs
+formerly found in its environs. So very numerous were they, that in 1615
+the Count de Chatelux, seigneur of the parish, had some of them sawn up
+to build and pave the present church and tower of the steeple, and also
+to roof the choir. They were seven or eight feet in length, and hollowed
+out like troughs. Tradition says they were all found empty, with the
+exception of five; in these reposed tall skeletons, blanched by time,
+each having a helmet on his head, and a Roman sword by his side. The
+stones of three only of these five tombs bore any inscription, name,
+mark, or sign. On one was a double cross, very coarsely engraved; on the
+second, a very large escutcheon, which the antiquaries, in spite of
+their magnifying glasses, their science, and their patience, could never
+decipher; and on the other, the most curious of the three, a Latin
+inscription, in a legible, but very ancient character.
+
+Having one day had the simplicity to translate this inscription to a
+young and beautiful Andalusian widow, smart was the rap of the fan that
+I had for my pains. I had parried her curiosity as long as I could, for
+her dark and dangerous eyes and clear olive complexion, which betrayed
+every pulse of her southern blood, combined to put me on my guard.
+Reader, will you wonder?--here is the inscription:
+
+     "Qui Daemone pejus? Mulier rixosa: fug ..."
+
+"But what does it mean?" said my curious brunette.
+
+"Senora, that you are lovely."
+
+"Stuff, sir! not at all;" and she tossed her graceful head pettishly; "I
+really wish you to translate it."
+
+"Well--here, then: '_Qui Daemone pejus_'--dark women; '_mulier
+rixosa_'--are the loveliest."
+
+"No, no! I say; I am sure that is not it. Say it, word for word, or I
+shall be angry--I vow I shall."
+
+"Word for word!" What was I to do?
+
+"Word for word," reiterated Dona Inez.
+
+"Indeed, Senora, I don't know ... you would not forgive me."
+
+"It is, then, something dreadful?"
+
+"No, not exactly dreadful, but----"
+
+"Dios! Dios! worlds of patience!" and she stamped her tiny foot; "will
+you go on? You kill me with vexation. Translate it, I say, word for
+word." And here the Dona, with discreet carelessness opening her fan,
+prepared to blush.
+
+"'_Qui Daemone pejus_'--who is there worse than the devil? Hum!"--now for
+the pinch, thought I.
+
+"Go on! go on!--the next words."
+
+"'_Mulier rixosa_'--is--a----"
+
+"Well, go on, will you?"
+
+"Yes--a quarrelsome woman!"
+
+Like lightning the fan closed, fell upon the unlucky index of my left
+hand, which was thoughtlessly reposing upon the arm of the _causeuse_,
+and nearly knocked off the first joint, by way of reward for my
+reluctant compliance with her feminine wishes.
+
+"Excuse me, Senora," I said, after I had recovered my breath, "but you
+are very unjust. I had nothing to do with writing this ungallant phrase;
+it was a brutal Roman, no doubt."
+
+"You are making game of me,--I know you are."
+
+"No, indeed; you insisted upon my translating it word for word, and I
+have done your bidding."
+
+"Then the man was a wretch who wrote them."
+
+"I think so too, Senora."
+
+"A brute--an animal!"
+
+"Certainly, Senora."
+
+"A fool--an old horror!"
+
+"Most probably."
+
+"An ignorant slanderer!"
+
+"Oh! surely."
+
+"A monster!"
+
+"I wager anything you like of it." But it was of no use; unconditional
+assent failed to pacify her. So she went on for hours; and it cost me
+untold pains to earn the brunette's permission to offer her an ice, or
+to win one single smile.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+     Le Morvan during the Middle Ages--Legendary horrors--Forest of La
+     Goulotte--La Croix Chavannes--La Croix Mordienne--Hotel de
+     Chanty--Chateau de Lomervo--A French Bluebeard--Citadel of Lingou.
+
+
+But I must return from my Andalusian belle to the rugged Le Morvan,--a
+patriotic, but, in spite of the broken finger, by no means so
+captivating a subject.
+
+In feudal times--indeed, even so late as the last century--the district
+was a perfect nest of cut-throats, where no one could venture in safety
+for any honest purpose; without roads, and without police; full of dark
+caverns and half-demolished castles, affording all kinds of facilities
+for retreat and concealment; and thus it became the favourite rendezvous
+of the worst and most ferocious characters of those lawless times. It is
+widely different now. The hunter or the traveller--a woman or a
+child--may ramble through the length and breadth of its forests, equally
+in vain hoping for the excitement or fearing the danger of any
+adventure, beyond the common one of seeing a wolf or wild boar threading
+his way amongst the trees--a matter of no consequence at all. If,
+however, you love to collect wild and mournful tales--tales, even, of
+horror, with which to rivet the attention of the family group over the
+fire in the winter evenings,--stop at every ruined wall over which the
+lizard is harmlessly creeping; stop at every massive tower in which the
+owl is screeching--at every large isolated stone under which the serpent
+is hissing; linger along each tortuous path, and your peasant guide will
+tell you a tradition for each--for all.
+
+Thus, for instance: you are perhaps a few paces in front of him, in the
+forest of La Goulotte; and as the mid-day sun glances through the boughs
+above you, you see its rays rest upon a cross at a little distance; it
+was, you think, placed there for the rude worshippers of the province,
+and you contemplate it with complacent reverence, till Pierre comes up
+with you. "'Tis La Croix Chavannes, Monsieur, _la croix sinistre_. See!
+in the narrow pass between the two mountains, its black and moss-covered
+arms extended; at the end of each is a large knob, resembling a
+threatening hand." You walk on, and find the cross riddled with ball,
+chipped and notched, and carved with odd names. By the time you have
+reached it, Pierre has told you it was set on the spot where, many a
+long year ago, the Marquis de Chavannes was found, deluged in blood and
+quite dead; he had been pierced through the heart by a treacherous
+rival, who had joined his hunting party, and who basely took advantage
+of a moment when, in ardent pursuit of the grisly boar, De Chavannes was
+utterly unsuspicious of his evil intentions.
+
+A little further on is another cross, at the entrance of a deep, dark
+gorge: What does that cross mean? "That one is called La Croix
+Mordienne, Monsieur; at its foot our forefathers knelt to recommend
+their souls to God, before they ventured their lives in the dangers of
+Les Grand Ravins, where too many had been greeted by the bullet or the
+dagger." The granite steps of this cross--this cross which was erected
+for worship--are worn deep by the knees of suppliants for protection
+against the cruelty of their fellow-men; and it is even a more
+melancholy monument of the ferocity of those times, than the one which
+records the assassination of the unsuspecting Marquis de Chavannes.
+
+Pursue your way, and, crossing a wild and marshy heath, you notice a
+lonely house surrounded by thorny broom, the aspect of which is
+forbidding, though it is gaily painted. Surely, you think, it can only
+be the gloomy tales with which my guide has beguiled this morning's
+walk, that make one suspect there is a history connected with that
+house; and you ask him its name. "That is Chanty, Monsieur; that was
+once an inn. The landlord was a frightful character, even for his own
+times. When the doomed traveller halted at his door to seek shelter from
+the storm, or to refresh himself and steed the better to encounter the
+scorching heat, the villain drugged his wine, and, at nightfall,
+following him into the forest, despatched and robbed his then helpless
+victim. Or perhaps he would detain him with stirring tales of forest
+life, till he found himself too late prudently to go further that night;
+and, on his guard against every person but the right, ordering a bed of
+his treacherous host, would fall into that slumber from which the
+miscreant took safe means to prevent his ever awaking. When, after many
+years of impunity in the commission of these fearful crimes, the
+officers of justice were at last set upon him, and his house was
+searched, in the cellar were found fifteen headless skeletons!"
+
+Such a mass of silent, awful testimony perhaps never was produced to
+substantiate the allegation of similar villany against any man; and
+atrocities like these, of the early and middle ages, have given their
+character to the legends of Le Morvan, which, still carefully related
+from one generation to another, are so impressed on the minds of the
+people, that the honest peasant of the present day would rather make a
+circuit of a dozen or twenty miles, than pass in the deepening twilight
+near the scenes to which they relate. Not all the gold of Peru--no, nor
+even of California--would tempt _Les Pastoures_ to graze their flocks or
+herds near the scene of these horrid events, or pass them when the stars
+are spangling the dark arch of heaven.
+
+Here also may be seen the solid walls, the array of towers, the high
+belfry, the iron gates, and the ponderous drawbridges of the Chateau de
+Lomervo; and many are the dependent buildings, courts, and gardens,
+surrounded by the thick copse wood that covers its domain, which extends
+over three neighbouring hills. Under the principal facade is a large
+lake, whose blue waves bathe the walls; an immense mirror, ever
+reflecting the numberless turrets, and the grotesque birds and beasts
+which decorate the extremity of every waterspout; wherein, too, the
+tranquil marble giants, who support the broad balcony on their heads,
+seem to contemplate and admire their own imperturbable
+countenances--countenances that betrayed no shade of feeling at all
+that must have passed before their eyes. The gathering of armed knights
+for war or revelry; the rejoicings for the birth of an heir, or the
+lamentations for the death of the stern gray-headed lord; the bridal of
+one lovely daughter of the house of Lomervo, or the solitary departure
+of the mail-clad lover of another for the Crusades. But, it is said,
+they saw much more than all this: according to popular rumour, these
+calm deep waters are the cold and mute depositories of frightfully
+tragic secrets. One bright spring morning in the very olden time, says
+the tradition, a Lord of this domain left his castle. It was when the
+sweet violet first cast its odours on the breeze, when the bright and
+abundant bloom of the lilac and laburnum gracefully decorated the
+gardens, and the country was reclad in all the charming freshness of the
+season. After a short absence, he returned, accompanied by a lovely
+bride;--but ere long she died. He went again, returning with another,
+and was again received by his vassals with acclamations of joy; but
+gloomy suspicions at last arose, for in this way, in succeeding years,
+were brought to the Castle eleven young and beautiful damsels. One by
+one, they all disappeared. What became of them? No one knew, or, if they
+did, dared to tell. When, however, the long-dreaded lord was dead, some
+old women declared, that as he became tired of each wife, he stabbed her
+at midnight in one of his dungeons, took a sack from a heap which he
+kept in the corner, and, sewing her up with his own hands, carried her
+noiselessly to the water-gate, and laid her in the bottom of his boat.
+Silently and rapidly he rowed to the centre of the lake, and coolly
+dropped in his hapless victim amongst the sheltering reeds.
+
+"Ah! Monsieur," the village gossips will still tell you, as they make
+the sign of the cross, and tremble till you see their very stuff gowns
+shake again; "'tis all true, Monsieur; twenty times have we seen them in
+the moonlight--twenty times have we seen the poor souls, in their long
+white robes, with their pale faces, and the spot of blood on the left
+side, wandering over the lake." Poor Bluebeard, for whom in childhood we
+used to feel such awe, was a fool to this baron bold.
+
+There, a little in front of you, is the fortified village of Chamou,
+which in former years defended the eastern opening of Les Grand Ravins;
+also Lingou, an old citadel, three stories high, whose walls, now
+cracked and ivy bound, guarded them on the south. This piece of feudal
+architecture, full of trap-doors and dungeons, subterranean passages,
+and secret stairs, is another of the places dreaded and abhorred by the
+peasantry of Le Morvan; for near the walls, they say, at certain
+periods, sounds can be distinctly heard under ground, funeral chaunts,
+and the tolling of bells; and if you have the daring to apply your ear
+to the sod, you will be able to distinguish sighs and sobs, and the dull
+rattle of the earth thrown upon the victim's coffin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+     Castle of Bazoche--Marechal de Vauban--Relics of the old
+     Marshal--Memorials of Philipsburg--Hotel de Bazarne--Madame de
+     Pompadour's maitre d'hotel--Proof of the _cures'_ grief--Farm of
+     St. Hibaut--Youthful recollections--Monsieur de Cheribalde--Navarre
+     the Four-Pounder--His culverin.
+
+
+Each of the Radcliffian horrors narrated in the last chapter, though
+vastly marvellous, most probably originated in some dreadful deed of
+blood, on which the vulgar and superstitious admiration of excitement of
+those days delighted to enlarge. We shall now turn to the castle of
+Bazoche, where, in former days, dukes, counts and barons assembled every
+September with their hunting-train, to enjoy the pleasures of _la grande
+chasse_ and all its attendant revelry. The chateau in later years
+belonged to the renowned engineer, Sebastian-le-Pretre, Marechal de
+Vauban, who was a native of Le Morvan, and born in 1633 in the village
+of St. Leger de Foucheret. The humble roof under which this celebrated
+man first saw the light is now inhabited by a _sabot_-maker.
+
+Brought up, like Henry IV., amongst the peasants of his native
+province, like him he loved the remembrance of all connected with it and
+them; and when he died in Paris (1707), he desired that he might be
+buried at his beloved Chateau de Bazoche, where he had so often,
+sauntering under the noble _platanes_, sought and found relaxation from
+the turmoil and fatigue of a soldier's life, and forgotten the
+jealousies and injustice of the court. In the southern part of the
+building is the gallant old veteran's sleeping apartment--there still
+stands his bed: and his armour, with several swords and other articles
+which belonged to him, are still preserved. On the rampart, now probably
+silent for ever, are four pieces of cannon of large calibre, which
+thundered at the siege of Philipsburg, and were subsequently presented
+to the Marshal by Monseigneur, the brother of Louis XIV.
+
+Great were the works accomplished by the genius and perseverance of this
+famous general--famous, not only in his own profession, but as one of
+the honest characters of an age when honesty was rare indeed. He
+improved and perfected the defences of three hundred towns, and entirely
+constructed the fortifications of thirty-three others; was present at
+one hundred and forty battles, and conducted fifty-three sieges. The
+body of this eminent man was, in literal compliance with his orders,
+interred in a black marble tomb, under the damp flagstones of the castle
+chapel; but his heart, in melancholy violation of the spirit which
+dictated them, is enclosed in a monument, surmounted by his bust, in the
+church of the Hotel des Invalides. Opposite to it is the tomb of
+Turenne, and under the same roof at last repose the mortal remains of
+Napoleon. Could their spirits perambulate this church at the hour when
+the dead only are said to be awake, and we could muster the courage to
+listen to their whispered communings, what should we hear? How severely
+would this tremendous triumvirate judge some of the so-called great men
+of our own time!
+
+But there are more modern edifices in Le Morvan, with far more agreeable
+episodes attached to them: take, for example, the Hotel de Bazarne, a
+celebrated hostel, built among the green lanes on the borders of a wood
+of acacias--a beautiful flowery wood, which, when the merry month of May
+has heralded the perfumed pleasures of spring, dispenses them on every
+breeze over the adjacent country.
+
+Bazarne, in its healthy situation and splendid environs, boasts the best
+of cookery. The last owner of Bazarne was--Reader, the utmost exercise
+of your lively imagination will never supply you with the right
+name--was an _ancien maitre d'hotel_ of Madame la Marquise de
+Pompadour--Madame de Pompadour's steward! What could he have to do in
+the wilds of Le Morvan? Grand Jean was a curious little man, lively and
+brisk as a bird or a squirrel, powdered, curled, and smelling of rose
+and benjamin as if he were still at Versailles or Choisi. Grand Jean
+decorated the back of his head with a little pigtail, which much
+resembled a head of asparagus, and was always jumping and frisking from
+one shoulder to the other. His snuff-box was of rare enamel, his ruffles
+of point-lace, and his artistic performances in the culinary art were
+all carried on in vessels of solid silver. He was, from the point of his
+toe to the tips of his hair, the aristocrat of the saucepan and the
+stove.
+
+Grand Jean acquired, in our provincial district, a reputation perfectly
+monumental for the richness of his venison pasties, the refined flavour,
+the smoothness and the exquisite finish of his _omelettes aux truffes_
+and _au sang de chevreuil_. All the world of Le Morvan used to visit
+him. And the good _cures_? The good _cures_?--ah! they all went to visit
+him by caravans, as the faithful wend their way across the deserts to
+Mecca to pray at the tomb of the Prophet. And, when he died, they
+mourned indeed; the worthy divines, incredible as it may be, drank water
+for three days, in proof of the sincerity of their woe. Who would have
+doubted it?
+
+To the north of Bazarne, and on the road to the best district for sport,
+is seen at the foot of the gray mountains peeping cheerily, and like a
+white flower amidst the sombre foliage of the chestnut-trees, St.
+Hibaut, an immense farm, situated in an isolated spot, and built of the
+lava from an extinct volcano. Saint Hibaut, ah! the moment the pen
+traces that dear name my aching heart beats and throbs within my
+breast--before my eyes pass to and fro the memories of a vanished
+world--I seem to feel the fresh and odorous breezes from thy flowers,
+thy mossy banks and scented shrubs, and hear thy murmuring rills and the
+dash of thy wild torrents. St. Hibaut! lovely spot where flew so swiftly
+and so sweetly the brightest and gayest hours of my early years--St.
+Hibaut, the memory of thee burns within my heart: but those within thy
+walls, do they still think of me?
+
+Alas! in this world of tears and deception, of moral tortures and often
+of physical suffering--what is there more delightful, more consolatory
+than to sip, nay plunge the lips, and drink, yes, drink deep from that
+fresh and blessed spring, the memory of by-gone days. How great the
+burden of the man who has been the sport of fortune, whose life has been
+one continued sorrow, who, never satisfied with the present moment, is
+always hoping for better and happier days, and always regretting those
+which have been and are now no more. O! Reader--if many griefs have been
+your portion, if it has been your sad fate to tread with naked feet the
+thorny paths of life, if the foul passions of envy, rage, and hatred
+have found a place in your heart, close your eyes, forget your
+miseries--open, open for a moment that golden casket called the memory,
+in which are preserved, embalmed and imperishable, all those happy
+incidents which were the delight of your youth. Yes! open wide that
+casket, ponder well, and with renewed fondness o'er these treasures of
+the mind, and believe me after such holy reflections you will feel
+yourself more able to meet the contumely of the world, and find yourself
+a happier and a better man.
+
+Saint Hibaut, situated in a wild country, surrounded by lonely heaths
+and deep ravines, and water-courses whose sides are covered by almost
+impenetrable thickets, was at the time I speak of, that is to say, when
+I was eighteen years of age, the property of Monsieur de Cheribalde,
+the most intrepid, determined and ardent sportsman, who ever winded a
+horn, wore a huntsman's knife, or whistled a dog.
+
+Distant very nearly twenty miles from any human habitation, it was at
+times, the favourite rendezvous, the head-quarters of a great number of
+chevreuil, boar and other denizens of the forest. In winter, when the
+snow covered the earth for several weeks, the famished and furious
+wolves assembled in the neighbourhood in packs, carrying off in the
+broad daylight everything they could lay their teeth on; sheep and
+shepherd, dogs and huntsman, horse and horseman, bones, hair, and skins
+half-tanned, old hats and shoes--even the corrupt bodies of the dead
+were torn from their resting-places, and eaten by these horrid animals.
+
+On moonlight nights, these brutes would come fearlessly up to the very
+walls of the farm, dancing their sarabandes in the snow, howling like so
+many devils, shrieking and showing their long white teeth, and demanding
+in unmistakable terms something or somebody to devour; their yells,
+their cries of rage, of victory, and of love, intermingled with the
+funereal song of the screech-owl, and the lugubrious melodies which the
+current from the blast without caused in the large open chimneys,--was
+the concert, which from December to April lulled the inmates of St.
+Hibaut to sleep; music that would I doubt not have reduced even the
+formidable proportions of the inimitable Lablache, and made Mario sing
+out of tune.
+
+But these were the good old times, the good old times! Well do I
+remember, when the shadows of those winter evenings lengthened, when
+nightfall came, and when at last the moon arose, bringing out in light
+and shade every object within the court-yard, and at some distance from
+the house, then it was that Monsieur de Cheribalde went his rounds. I
+see him in my mind's eye now, with his gun on his shoulder, followed by
+his five enormous bloodhounds strong and fierce as lions, and Navarre,
+surnamed the Four-Pounder, who walked a few paces to the right and left,
+opening his large saucer eyes, poking and squinting into every bush and
+corner.
+
+Navarre, for forty years the head gamekeeper of the domain, was his
+master's right hand, his _alter ego_. He had never in his whole life
+been beyond his woods,--had never seen the church-steeple of a great
+town. To him, the dark belt of firs that skirted the horizon, was the
+limit of the world; and when told that the sun never set, and that when
+it sank behind the mountains, it was only continuing its course, to beam
+bright in other skies and on other lands, and to ripen other
+harvests,--Navarre smiled, and did not believe a word. Happy Navarre!
+what did it signify to him what was done, or what happened behind those
+hills? He was thin and dry as a match, and tall as a Norwegian spruce,
+with a face covered with hair; he smoked, and tossed off glass after
+glass of brandy, like a Dutchman. In addition to these peculiarities,
+Navarre was lame of the right leg, a boar having one day kindly applied
+his tusky lancet to his thigh, and gored him seriously, before, hand to
+hand, he managed to finish him with his hunting-knife.
+
+At the first glance, Navarre's aspect appeared strange and forbidding,
+and savage as the locality in which he lived. The fact was, that, like
+Robinson Crusoe, he was frequently arrayed in a suit of skins of which
+he had been the architect, on a fantastic pattern, that his own queer
+imagination had created.
+
+On great occasions the veteran keeper donned a helmet, or a gray
+three-cornered hat, of so ridiculous a shape--so royally absurd--that
+for my life, when he was thus attired, I could not, even in the presence
+of his master, refrain from laughter; then he would tell you, with a
+gravity it was impossible to disturb, that it had taken him fifteen
+days, eight skins of wild cats, and twelve squirrel's tails, to achieve
+this happy _chef-d'oeuvre_ of the tailoring art. But I once said to
+him, "My good Navarre, in the name of heaven tell me, from what Japanese
+manuscript did you fish out that odious hat? Why, with such a shed, you
+might very well be mistaken for Chin-ko-fi-ku-o, high-priest of the
+temple of Twi. Do give me the address of your hatter, my dear friend."
+Navarre, furious, gave no reply.
+
+But the time really to admire him--to see the head gamekeeper in all his
+splendour--was in winter, in a hard frost, when, covered with skins and
+motionless, he lay in ambush in a black ravine, waiting for a boar. Oh!
+then, for certain, the sight of him was anything but encouraging; for he
+looked like some unknown animal, some variety of the species _Bonassus_,
+a crocodile on end, a crumpled-up elephant, or a great bear on the
+watch. And when he loaded his rifle--a sort of culverin or wall-piece,
+which no one but himself knew how to manage--gracious powers! he was
+something to see. His first movement was to seize the gigantic weapon in
+the middle, as a policeman would fasten upon a favourite thief; and then
+he set himself to blow into the barrel with such fury, that had there
+been an ounce of wadding left, the blast would have blown it all through
+the enormous touch-hole. Being well assured after this that neither an
+adder nor a slow-worm had taken up his domicile within the barrel, he
+began to load. One charge--two charges--then a third, "as a compliment,"
+and after this, a fourth, "for good luck." On this infernal
+charge--imperial, as he called it--this Vesuvius, this volcano of
+saltpetre, he threw half-a-dozen balls, or, if he was out of them, a
+handful of nails; and then he rammed--rammed--rammed away, like a
+pavior.
+
+My hair stood on end, and every limb trembled when he fired it off--holy
+St. Francis!--the very forest bent, and coughed, and sighed; and it made
+as much flame, smoke, noise, and carnage, as a battery of horse
+artillery. One might have heard it all over Burgundy, or Provence for
+what I know; and hence, no doubt, his _sobriquet_ of "the Four-Pounder."
+I always thought his shoulder must be made of heart of oak. On one
+occasion he did me the incomparable favour of loading my gun in this
+fashion, but luckily for me, informed me of this piece of civility
+before we started; and greatly was he chagrined when I declined to fire
+it. In the common occurrences of life, Navarre was a right good fellow;
+he had great good sense, could take a joke, was simple and modest in
+his manners, and very kind-hearted and retiring. But once in the forest,
+the dogs uncoupled, and the business of the chase commenced, he bounded
+to the front; his eyes flashed, his nostrils dilated, he took a deep
+breath, listened, and snuffed the air; he limped no longer; and as his
+courage was unequalled, and his knowledge of wood-craft profound, the
+proudest of every rank were content to follow where he led.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+     Bird's-eye view of the forests--The student's visit to his uncle in
+     the country--Sallies forth in the early morning--Meets a
+     cuckoo--Follows him--The cuckoo too much for him--Gives up the
+     pursuit--Finds he has lost his way--Agreeable vespers--Night in the
+     forest--Wolves--Up a beech tree--A friend in need--The student bids
+     adieu to Le Morvan.
+
+
+We have alluded in the opening chapters to the inexhaustible wealth
+drawn by the inhabitants from the woods of Le Morvan, though we have as
+yet touched but slightly on their beauties. To see them at one _coup
+d'oeil_, in all the splendour of their extent, one ought to call for
+the veteran, Mr. Green, and, safely (?) lodged in his car, with plenty
+of sandwiches and champagne, fly and soar above these forests of La
+Belle France. By St. Hubert, gentle reader, your eyes would be feasted
+with a glorious sight. Beneath your feet you would, in autumn, behold a
+verdant expanse in every variety of light and shade--a sea of leaves,
+which, though sometimes in repose, more often moan and murmur, while the
+giant arms they clothe rock to and fro in the gale, like the restless
+waves of the troubled deep.
+
+Here Nature displays all her sylvan grandeur; here she has scattered,
+with a liberal hand, every charm that foliage can give to earth, and
+many a lovely flower to scent the evening breeze. Descend, and in this
+immense labyrinth you will find a tangled skein of forest paths, in
+which it is never prudent to ramble alone; as will be seen by the
+following adventure, which befell a young student who once went to Le
+Morvan, anticipating infinite pleasure in spending a few weeks at the
+house of an old uncle, a rich proprietor and owner of a large farm in
+the forest of Erveau.
+
+Residing from his infancy in the department of the Seine, he was quite
+ignorant of a forest life; and the morning was yet early when he arose
+from his bed and sallied forth to enjoy the fresh and fragrant air, of
+which he had a foretaste at his open window, and take a ramble till the
+hour of breakfast summoned him to his uncle's hospitable fare. All
+without was life and sweetness; every bush had its little chorister; the
+sun brilliant, but not as yet high in the heavens, threw his bright rays
+in chequered light and shade between the trees, and made the pearly
+tears of night, which hung quivering on each bending blade of grass,
+sparkle like diamonds of the purest water. The student was in raptures,
+and after a brief survey of the garden, he cast a longing eye upon the
+woods which he so much wished to penetrate. On he walked, stopping
+occasionally to muse on the enchanting scene around him, when all at
+once he espied, on the lofty branches of an ash, a cuckoo! At the sight
+of this splendid bird, our Parisian sportsman felt his heart pit-a-pat
+and jump like a girl's in love; and without stopping any longer to
+admire the marvels of Nature, he turned hastily back to his uncle's
+abode, in search of a gun, with which to annihilate the luckless
+harbinger of spring. He soon found one, ready loaded, in the hall; and,
+with his heart full of hope and his legs full of precaution, he glided
+mysteriously from one tree to another, endeavouring, by all possible
+means, to conceal his approach from the wily cuckoo, which, perched on
+high, was throwing into space his two dull notes, regular and monotonous
+as the tick-tick of an old-fashioned clock.
+
+Warily and stealthily did the student approach; bent nearly double, he
+scarcely drew his breath, as his distance from the tree grew less; but,
+says the song of the poacher,--
+
+  "If women smell tricks, cuckoos smell powder."
+
+And again,--
+
+  "'Tis a difficult thing to catch woman at fault,
+  More difficult still, an old cuckoo with salt."
+
+Without appearing to do so, from the height of his leafy turret, the
+prudent cuckoo kept a wary eye upon the tortuous movements of his enemy;
+but as he saw at a glance what sort of a customer he had to deal with,
+he evidently did not feel any particular hurry to shift his quarters:
+only every time he saw the double barrel moving up to the Parisian's
+shoulder, and that hostilities on his part were about to be opened, he,
+as if just for fun, dropped his own dear brown self on the branch below
+him, flapped his wings, and soon perching himself on a tree a little
+further off, gravely re-opened his beak and resumed his monotonous
+chant.
+
+The young student, piqued and mortified at this discreet behaviour of
+the cuckoo, which, like happiness, was always on the wing, perseveringly
+followed the provoking bird--one walked, the other flew, the distance
+increased at every flight, and thus they got over a great deal of
+ground; the young man still believing his uncle's farm was close behind
+him--the cuckoo perfectly easy, knowing full well he could find his
+leafy home whenever he might please to return to it. So, for the
+fiftieth time, perhaps, the cuckoo was vanishing in the foliage, when a
+sudden thought cramped the legs and cut short the obstinate pursuit of
+the young lawyer; he then, for the first time, remembered the wholesome
+advice his uncle had given him on his arrival.--"Beware, my fine fellow,
+beware of going alone in the forest, for to those who know not how to
+read their way, that is, on the bark of the trees, the mossy stones, and
+dry or broken twigs, the forest is full of snares and danger, of
+deceitful echos and strange noises that attract and mislead the
+inexperienced sportsman."
+
+"By Juno," thought our hero, "as it is most certain that in Paris they
+are not yet clever enough to teach us geography on the bark of trees, I
+am an uncommonly lucky fellow to have just remembered the dear old
+gentleman's warning. Hang the infernal cuckoo! Go to the devil, you
+hideous cuckoo! Good morning, sir, my compliments at home." And then,
+with his terrible carbine under his arm, he retraced his steps,
+expecting every moment to see peeping through the trees in front of him,
+his uncle's large white house and lofty dove-cote.
+
+But, alas! no such thing met his hungry eyes; still on he walked, trees
+after trees were passed, glade after glade, and many a long avenue, but
+neither white farm-house nor gay green shutters greeted his anxious
+sight. "How odd," thought he, "how very odd; this, I feel confident, is
+the identical spot near which I first noticed that odious cuckoo; here
+is the self-same little regiment of white daisies that my feet pressed
+not half an hour ago; see now, this chestnut, this immense chestnut,
+whose monstrous roots lie twisting about the ground like a black brood
+of ugly snakes--certainly this was the way I came, surely I saw these
+roots, and yet no house appears." And thus, from time to time, he
+reasoned with himself, looking on either side for some object that he
+could recognize with certainty; at last, grown thoroughly hungry and
+impatient, he hallooed and shouted, but no voice replied, not the
+slightest sound was floating in the air. It was then he felt he had lost
+his way,--that he was alone, yes, alone in the forest of Erveau, in a
+leafy wilderness stretching many miles.
+
+Many a vow he made and many a blackberry he picked as he walked hither
+and thither, in every direction. The day wore on, the sun had long
+passed the meridian, and with the coming evening rose a gentle breeze,
+which moaned in the dry ferns; and this and the rustling of the giant
+creepers that reached from tree to tree, and swung between the branches,
+fell mournfully on the student's ear. A vague fear, a fatal
+presentiment of evil began to creep over him; again he shouted, the echo
+from a dark wild ravine alone replied; he fired his gun again and again,
+the echo alone answered his signal of distress, and nothing could he
+hear, except at intervals, far, far away in the green depths of the
+forest, the notes cuckoo--cuckoo.
+
+Faint and weary, from hunger and fatigue, the young man, no longer able
+to proceed, fell down at the foot of a spreading beech, and gave way to
+an agony of grief; drops of cold sweat stood upon his brow; the clammy
+feeling of fear took possession of his heart, and though, perhaps, he
+would have had no objection to try the fortune of the pistol or the
+sword, in any college broil or senseless riot of the populace, the
+circumstances under which he then stood were so new to him, that he was
+quite unmanned and incapable of further exertion.
+
+In blood-red streaks sank the setting sun, his large yellow orb glancing
+through the trees like the dimmed eye of some giant ogre; twilight came,
+and soon after every valley lay in shadow; the breeze, as if waking from
+its gentle slumbers, whistled in the highest branches, and, increasing
+in force, rocked the lower limbs, which moaned mournfully as the night
+closed in.
+
+Hungry and alarmed, and now quite worn out with his lengthened walk, the
+young Parisian lay stretched on the moss, listening with painful anxiety
+to this melancholy conversation of the woods, when, suddenly, and as
+night fell, spreading over the earth her sable wings and shaking from
+the folds of her robe the luminous legions of stars, he heard a
+prolonged and sonorous howl in the distance--a strolling wolf--
+
+  "Cruel as Death! and hungry as the grave!
+  Burning for blood! bony and gaunt and grim,"
+
+had scented the Parisian and was inviting his good friends with the long
+teeth, to come and sup on the dainty morsel. Touched as if by a hot
+iron, up got the terrified youth, and striking his ten nails into the
+friendly tree near him like an Indian monkey, he was in an instant many
+feet above its base. Here, astride upon a branch, shivering and shaking,
+each hair on end, and murmuring many a Pater and Ave Maria, unsaid for
+years, he passed the most horrific night that any citizen of the
+department of the Seine had ever been known to spend in the middle of
+the forest of Erveau.
+
+The following morning, but not until the sun had already run nearly
+half his course, for he never dared to leave his timber observatory
+before, _le pauvre diable_ dropped down from his perch like an
+acorn--and, marching off with weary steps, and scarcely a hope that ere
+another night fell he should gain the shelter of some cottage, he
+dragged himself along. On he rolled from side to side, torn with the
+thorns and bitten by the gnats that swarmed around him, sometimes
+calling upon his mother, sometimes upon the saints--when a wood-cutter
+happily met, and seeing his exhausted condition, threw the slim student
+over his shoulders like a bundle of straw, and carried him to a
+neighbouring village. There, he was put to bed and attended with every
+care, when he soon recovered--and received the charming intelligence
+that he was about forty miles from his uncle's house--that he had been
+wandering for that distance in the most beautiful part of the forest of
+Erveau, and that if by any chance he had deviated a little more to the
+right in his unpleasant steeple-chase across the woods, he would have
+gone, in a straight line, eighty-six miles without meeting house or
+cottage or human soul until he found himself at the gates of Dijon,
+chief town of the Cote-d'Or, where he might and would, no doubt, have
+been able to refresh himself with a bottle of Beaune and inspect the
+Gothic tombs of the great Dukes of Burgundy.
+
+Grateful was the unlucky lad to think that he had not taken this road,
+and truly glad was he when, under the woodcutter's care, he reached his
+uncle's white house. No sooner, however, was he fairly recovered from
+his misadventure, than he packed up his superb cambric shirts, his Lyons
+silk socks, patent leather boots, and white Jouvin gloves; squeezed the
+hand of his aunt, gave a doubtful shake to that of his uncle, and
+started in the _malle poste_ for the capital. His father's brother and
+Le Morvan never saw him more.
+
+Such adventures, however, as these are rare, and you must have, indeed,
+a double dose of bad fortune to be lost in such a woful way, and spend,
+without meeting any mortal soul, thirty long hours in the woods: for
+though the tract of forest is very extensive, there are strewed, here
+and there, several merry villages, large farms, and hunting-boxes,
+snugly hidden, it is true, beneath the trees,--but which an experienced
+huntsman very soon discovers when he stands in need of assistance or a
+night's lodging.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+     Charms of a forest life to the sportsman--The Poachers--Le Pere
+     Seguin--His knowledge of the woods and of the rivers--The first
+     buck--A bad shot.
+
+
+However dangerous the forests of Le Morvan may be, and certainly are, to
+the citizen of Paris, whose knowledge of wood-craft, whatever may have
+been his delightful visions of forest life, of fairy revels, and
+hair-breadth escapes, is about equal to his proficiency in navigation,
+they are no labyrinth to the true sportsman of this province; in his
+mind, they are mapped with an accuracy perfectly astonishing to the
+uninitiated in the countless indications of nature, of which the eye of
+man becomes so keenly observant when thrown constantly into her
+fascinating society. Let a man of a vigorous health, active frame, and
+contemplative mind once enter, even for a short time, upon the
+enjoyments of sporting, wild and varied as are those of Le Morvan, it
+would be difficult to withdraw him from its delights, and persuade him
+that it is in any way desirable to return to the crowded haunts of men,
+and condemn himself to resume the harassing struggle for wealth or a
+competence in his own legitimate sphere.
+
+No; there scarcely breathes the human being who could be so insensible
+to the charms of scenery like that of Le Morvan as to do so without a
+pang. 'Tis a chalice of gold, brimful of real pleasures for those who
+love the joys of the open air; 'tis alive with fish and game, and has
+its vineyards and its cornfields too.
+
+But we are thinking of the forests only, of the boar--that potentate of
+the solitudes--and the wild cat: of the ravines and caves, to which the
+hardy and venturous hunter, through bush, brake, or briar, over
+streamlet or torrent, will chace the ravenous wolf,--who, bearing the
+iron ball in his lacerated side, ever and anon gnaws the wound in his
+rage, and slinks on weeping tears of blood. The roebuck and the hare,
+the feathered and the finny tribe, are ever presenting an endless
+alternation of amusement more or less exciting; and the sportsman has
+but to settle with himself, when the rosy morn appears, whether he will
+bestride his gallant steed, or throw the rod or rifle over his
+shoulder,--his day's pleasure is safe.
+
+It matters not whether the falling leaf announces that the woods are
+clearing for him, the deep snow warns him to look to the protection of
+his flocks from the dangerous intrusion of the wolves, or the genial air
+and the brilliant flies tell him that the silvery tenants of the many
+streams and rivers that intersect the forest are ready to provide him
+sport.
+
+Arouse thee, sportsman! when the dark clouds of night fly before the
+rays of Phoebus as a troop of timid antelopes before the
+leopard,--when the lark abandons his mossy bed, and soaring sends forth
+his joyous carol,
+
+  "----blythe to greet
+  The purpling East,"
+
+then, O sportsman, up, and to horse! Away! bending over the saddle-bow,
+follow the wild deer across the heath--inhale the perfume of the
+trampled thyme. Draw bridle for a moment, and pity the thousands of thy
+fellow-men to whom the pure air and light are denied, and let thy
+heartfelt thanksgivings for thy free and happy lot ascend to the azure
+battlements of heaven. Beneath your gaze lie valleys whence rise the
+morning mists as do the clouds from the richly-perfumed censer, and
+float over the bosom of the plain ere they wreathe the mountain side;
+all the bushes sing, every leaf is shining to welcome the glorious sun
+as he rises majestically over that high dark range, and the bright blue
+dome of day is revealed in all its purity.
+
+Plunge onward to the forest--you will perhaps fall in with one of the
+_braconniers_--must I call them poachers?--of which there are many; all
+alike, in one sense, yet each having the most whimsical characteristics.
+The reader knows my friend Navarre, but I must now introduce him to
+another of the cronies of my youth, the Pere Seguin, the thoughts of
+whom revive all the sweet recollections of my home when my family lived
+in the ancient and picturesque Vezelay.
+
+Seguin's "form and feature" are as well impressed upon my memory as
+those even of Navarre. Could any one forget him? I should think not; for
+he was so fantastic and mysterious, such a determined sportsman and
+eccentric desperado, that he was known to all Le Morvan.
+
+As well as I remember, he was about fifty-five years of age when I first
+knew him; from his earliest boyhood he had fancied and loved a
+forester's life, and for more than forty years had realized his dreams
+of its wild independence. The woods, the rocks, the streams had no
+secrets for him; he understood all their murmurs and their silence--he
+knew the habits of every bird and beast of these forests and the
+whereabouts of every large trout in his clear cold hole.
+
+But it is of no use to describe Pere Seguin; to know him you must hunt
+with him, and that pretty often, too--as I have done from my earliest
+youth. I am now with him, on one of those joyous mornings of my boyhood,
+and having threaded the woods for an hour, he has placed me in ambuscade
+at the corner of a copse. Here, after a short delay, he pulls out his
+watch, a time-piece weighing about two pounds, and after a mute
+consultation with the hands, says in a low decided tone:
+
+"Good! Three o'clock. Stop here, youngster, and in an hour I shall send
+you a buck."
+
+"A buck at four o'clock? How are you to tell that?" And I felt that I
+opened my eyes as an oyster does his bivalve domicile at high water. "A
+buck! you are joking."
+
+"I never joke," said the Pere Seguin with a hoarse grunt, walking away,
+and his face did not belie his words.
+
+"Well, then, but how can you possibly--Stop, do, for one moment. Hear
+me! holla! Pere Seguin! I say, you old humbug.--By Socrates, he is off."
+
+But Pere Seguin was already striding fast and far through the bending
+branches, wilfully, if not really out of hearing, and I had nothing to
+do but to watch for the promised game. I had no watch, and it seemed to
+me long after the appointed hour, when my reverie was disturbed by a low
+voice, from I knew not where,--from heaven, from earth, from a murmuring
+brook, from a tree,--which dropped these words in my ear.
+
+"Silence--four o'clock--the buck."
+
+At that moment I saw the ears of the roebuck, and soon after the animal
+itself, pausing for a moment in his leisurely course, just where he
+ought to be for a good shot. But amazement and trepidation seized me. I
+fired in a hurry, and the deer bounded off unscathed. "How clumsy," said
+I to the Pere Seguin, as he emerged from the thicket, "and how
+unfortunate, for I have some friends coming to dine with me this week."
+
+"Never mind, never mind," replied the poacher; "I will fill your larder
+to-morrow."
+
+"Well, you are a good fellow, but remember I require also some fish--a
+fine dish of trout."
+
+"Very well," growled the Pere, "you shall have one;" and without a word
+more the _braconnier_ is off; and soon after I meet him with his rod, a
+young fir-tree, on his shoulder, a box of worms as large as snakes, and
+with the most entire confidence in his piscatory powers, proceeding on
+his way to the stream that will suit his purpose. In the evening he
+reappears, taking from the fresh grass in which he has carried them,
+three or four magnificent fish studded with drops of gold. White wine
+and choice aromatic herbs flavour them, and you rejoice in the pleasure
+and praises of your friends as they partake of the savoury meal.
+
+And now for a sketch, if possible, of this excellent purveyor. Pere
+Seguin was tall as an obelisk, strong as a Hercules, _vif_ as gunpowder,
+thin and sinewy as any wolf in his beloved forests. His ear large, flat,
+and full of hair; his teeth long, white, regular, and sharp as those of
+his favourite and extraordinary dog; his eyes yellow, calm, and piercing
+as those of a mountain eagle, and his chin had never been desecrated
+with a razor. A kind of brushwood covered his face, and through it
+peeped, with the tip of his hooked nose, the features I have described.
+This immense uncultivated beard, tucked carefully within his waistcoat,
+reached nearly to his waist. Did I say it had never been shaved? I might
+add, it had never been combed. Lurking in it you might see leaves,
+white hairs, red hairs, bits of a butterfly's wing, two or three jay's
+feathers, a nutshell, some tobacco, a blade or two of grass, the cup of
+an acorn, or a little moss. Indeed, so strangely was it garnished that,
+when asleep on the grass under the trees, a robin was once seen to hover
+over him undecided as to whether she would build her nest in it, or pick
+out materials to make one elsewhere.
+
+Of uncommon intelligence, peculiarly taciturn, brave, frank, loyal, and
+incapable of a bad action, his mind was of a gloomy cast; he was always
+alone, he had no friends, he wanted none, and, if not hunting, reading
+the Bible or muttering to himself, with his eyes fixed on the ground. He
+lived like the woodcock, sad and solitary in his hole.
+
+The peasants dreaded him, and never spoke of him but as the _Sorcier_,
+the _Vieux Diable_; when naughty little children refused to learn their
+letters or to go to bed, it was only necessary to threaten them with
+sending for the Pere Seguin and his red dog, and the whole of the rosy
+troop would scamper off to their nursery in an instant.
+
+I need scarcely say that amongst his other perfections he was a perfect
+shot--the best in the department,--and the moment he touched the
+trigger death winged his charge at two hundred paces. With a single ball
+from his rifle would he bring down the wild cat from the highest
+branches, and cut the poor squirrels in two, stop the howl of the wolf,
+or shiver the iron frontal bones of the wild boar.
+
+In short, his gun was his joy, his friend, his mistress, his all; he
+spoke to it, caressed it, rocked it on his knees as a mother would her
+sick child, and took a thousand times more care of it than he would have
+bestowed upon the most lovely wife, had he ever done anything so rash as
+to marry. It was a singular accident that brought us acquainted; and if
+I had had any respect for chronology, I should have related it before.
+
+One day, when rambling over the mountain in search of game, I put up and
+fired at a hare; she was evidently hit, and I gave chase, yet though
+puss had but three legs effective I could not overtake her,
+
+  "I follow'd fast, but faster did she fly;"
+
+at last, a bank stopped and turned her, and I was on the point of taking
+possession when a large red brindled dog dashed past and anticipated my
+purpose, carrying off my hare, without bestowing so much as a glance
+upon me,--no, not even appearing to see that I was there. Electrified
+with astonishment, my left leg seemed pinned to the spot, while the
+right, extended on a level with my shoulder, emulated that of Cerito in
+"Giselle;" but recovering myself, I followed the thief, who made off
+with the speed of a greyhound, in the direction of a neighbouring wood,
+and on arriving at a little green knoll almost as soon as he did, I came
+suddenly upon a strange and uncouth-looking figure who was reclining
+comfortably on the grass beneath the shade of a large walnut-tree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+     Le Pere Seguin's collation--The young sportsman and the hare--The
+     quarrel--The apology--The reconciliation--The cemetery--Bait for
+     barbel--Le Pere Seguin's deceased friends--The return home.
+
+
+The extraordinary personage in whose presence I so suddenly found myself
+was the celebrated Pere Seguin, who, tired with his morning's sport, was
+taking his noontide meal; that is, appeasing his appetite, always
+enormous, with a loaf of black rye bread, into which he plunged his
+ivory teeth with hearty rapidity, now and then taking a mouthful out of
+a turnip he had pulled in a field hard by. The abominable quadruped was
+there too, planted on his haunches, just in front of his master, looking
+as innocent as a lamb, though still holding my hare between his teeth,
+probably not daring to lay it down without permission.
+
+Pere Seguin ate, drank, twisted his wiry moustache, dipped his turnip in
+the coarse salt, and from time to time cast a glance at his vile dog,
+without deigning to speak a word, or even to acknowledge my presence.
+Furious at this behaviour, I bowed and said to him, "So, you are the
+owner of this precious cur?"
+
+The poacher signified his assent by a slight movement of the head.
+
+"Well, if the dog belongs to you, the hare in his mouth belongs to me."
+
+"Does it?" said the Pere Seguin, and he looked at his dog, who winked
+his eye and shook his paw: "my dog tells me he caught this hare
+running."
+
+"I know it, the rascally vagabond! and with no great trouble either,
+seeing that the hare was half dead, and had but three legs to go upon."
+
+Pere Seguin threw his yellow eye on the cur again, and, as if he had
+understood all we said, he once more shook his paw, and gave a sort of
+sneeze.
+
+"My dog repeats, he coursed the hare well, and has a right to her."
+
+"What do you mean by saying he has a right to her, when I tell you the
+hare belongs to me?"
+
+"And my dog says the reverse."
+
+"Go to Dijon with your dog!" I exclaimed, "I tell you the hare is mine."
+
+"My dog never told a lie," rejoined the _braconnier_, and he dipped the
+remnant of his turnip for the twentieth time in the salt. "Never."
+
+"Then _I_ am the liar," said I, beginning to feel hot, "I am the liar,
+ah! am I? By Jupiter! your dog, you bearded fool--your cur of a dog? I
+do not care a _sous_ for his carcass any more than I do for yours. I'll
+have my hare."
+
+"Don't get excited, young man--don't be savage, I beg of you; for, as
+sure as I am a sinner, you'll have a crop of pimples on your nose
+to-morrow,--and red pimples on the nose are not pretty."
+
+"Keep your jokes to yourself, old man, or on my honour you shall repent
+it!"
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" grinned the Pere Seguin, "Ha! ha! ha! capital turnip."
+
+"Houp! houp! houp!" went the dog.
+
+I was bewildered; such a strange adventure had never befallen me before.
+
+"Once, twice--will you give me my hare?"
+
+"Have I any hare of yours?"
+
+"You? No, but your dog."
+
+"Ha! that's another affair. You must settle that with him. Take your
+hare, and let me eat my turnip in peace."
+
+Enraged at this, I rushed at the carroty dog, but he was off in an
+instant, jumping first behind the tree, and then behind his master,
+keeping my hare all the time fast in his mouth till I was fairly out of
+breath, and aggravated beyond expression.
+
+I looked towards the poacher. He was quietly plucking the top off a
+fresh turnip, but under the air of icy indifference which pervaded his
+whole exterior I detected a sarcastic smile, which fully convinced me
+that I was the laughing-stock of man and beast. I took my resolution,
+and Pere Seguin, who had followed my movements with his eye, said drily,
+as I was going to put a cap on, "What are you going to do young man?"
+
+"Oh, nothing! just to kill your dog for taking my hare."
+
+"Bah! you're joking."
+
+"Joking! am I? You shall see;" and I proceeded quietly to raise my gun.
+
+"Gently, my lad," roared the Pere Seguin, and he seized the weapon in
+his iron grasp.
+
+"I may be but a 'lad,' but I'll not give up my rights; the hare is mine,
+and I'll have her. Let go my gun!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"By----"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Then look out for yourself," said I, and with a rapid movement I
+attempted to draw my _couteau de chasse_; but long before I could get
+it out, he had seized me with both hands, and in a twinkling I measured
+my length upon the turf, and the knife was in his possession.
+
+"Child of violence!" he said, as he set me again on my legs, and pushed
+me from him, "Do you then already love to shed blood? Would you kill a
+man for a hare? Have you not the sense to distinguish a joke from an
+insult? There," he added, giving me back my knife, which had fallen from
+its sheath in the struggle, "young man, do your worst!"
+
+But I was now as angry with myself as I had been with the old man, and
+heartily ashamed of my conduct. I turned on my heel, and walked off,
+vexed beyond expression at my intemperate folly.
+
+The very next day, as good fortune would have it, I met him again in the
+forest, and lost not a moment in asking his forgiveness for my brutal
+conduct of the previous day.
+
+"Ah! you acknowledge your fault, do you?" replied the Pere Seguin,
+"enough, that shows you have a heart. I bear you no ill-will; you are
+_vif_ as the mountain breeze, but that comes of being young. Give me
+your hand, and when you want a dove or lilies of the valley for your
+sister, venison or wild boar for your friends, I, my gun, and my dog,
+are at your service; but"--and he whispered in my ear--"no more knives."
+
+"See! see!" and I opened my jacket, "it is gone. I threw it into the
+moat this morning."
+
+"'Tis well! very well! You have had a happy escape, young man. _Au
+revoir._ Now, Faro, take your leave of Monsieur;" and instantly obeying
+a sign from his master, the red dog licked my boots. A moment more, and
+they were both lost to view in the forest.
+
+From that time I was frequently with the Pere Seguin, for he seemed to
+have a fancy--a sort of affection for me, and on my part I had an
+incomprehensible pleasure in his society, though in the early part of
+our acquaintance I could not divest myself of an undefined dread of him;
+and had some difficulty in reconciling myself to the harsh and guttural
+tones of his voice, and his peculiarly severe physiognomy. Nevertheless,
+many an evening did I slip away from the paternal hearth, much to the
+distress of my poor mother, to seat myself on one of his wooden stools,
+and eat the chestnuts he was roasting in the embers, while he related,
+by the pale light of his small charcoal fire, which but dimly showed the
+extent even of his small room, frightful stories of ghosts, suicides,
+drownings, and fearful murders, with which he delighted to terrify me;
+and, dear reader, he succeeded to perfection, for all the time I sat
+listening to them I was cold, and trembled like a leaf in the northern
+blast.
+
+Well do I remember--yes, as well as if it had been yesterday--going out
+with him to fish for barbel, and joining him over-night to go in search
+of bait. I found him crouched by his fire, eating potatoes out of the
+same plate with his dog. This frugal meal over, he took up a small
+lantern, a large box, and a long spade, and beckoned me to follow him.
+
+The moon was rising as we left the hut, but red as blood, lightning
+streaked the sky at short intervals, and the wind howled as if a storm
+was approaching. Pere Seguin rubbed his hands, and an expression of
+satisfaction passed across his extraordinary countenance; for, living as
+he did a lonely wandering life, he had become superstitious, and firmly
+believed that worms caught at certain hours of the night, and in a
+breeze that foretold an approaching tempest, were more likely to attract
+the fish than those taken in the daylight. To this article of his creed
+I offered no objection, but I own my heart shrunk within me when I
+observed that he took the direct road to the burial-ground. "Pere
+Seguin," said I, "we need go no further; the turf in this lane is
+capital; we shall find all we want here without a longer walk." "Since
+when," he inquired in a voice that seemed to come from between his
+shoulders, "since when have young fawns taught the old roebuck the way
+to the forest-glades?" And he strode on without a word more, still in
+the direction I so much abhorred.
+
+Arriving at the cemetery, Pere Seguin walked leisurely round it, paying
+as much attention to me as if I had not been with him, and I followed
+like a criminal going to the scaffold. After having made a careful
+examination of the wall, he stopped suddenly, gave me the lantern and
+the spade, and leaped upon the top, desiring me to do the same. I
+hesitated, and fell back, for I felt more inclined to throw them down
+and run away, and Pere Seguin saw it.
+
+"Ha! ha!" he exclaimed, fixing his yellow eye upon me. "I thought you
+were heart of oak, young Sir; are you only a man of straw?"
+
+I gave no answer, but I leaped on to the wall like a rope-dancer.
+
+"Hum!" he muttered; "good legs, but a faint heart." And he begun rapidly
+to turn up the rank grass, and pick the large red worms from amongst the
+roots, when, looking up in my face, he said, with infinite coolness,
+"Why, you are as pale as my mother was on the day of her death! What
+ails you?"
+
+"Ails me!" I replied, repressing my fears, "why to tell you the truth,
+I'd just as soon be anywhere else as here."
+
+"Pooh! pooh! young man; one must accustom one's self to everything in
+this world. We must learn--be always learning. Remember, for instance,
+for I'll be bound that you never heard of such a thing before, that
+worms taken in a burial-ground are the finest possible bait for barbel,
+do you hear?--taken by moonlight from the roots of the hemlock."
+
+"Good heavens! Pere Seguin, I would rather never catch a fish for the
+rest of my days than touch one of those worms!"
+
+"Nonsense, my lad--nonsense; they are admirable bait--fine fat
+fellows--sure to take. We shall have a wonderful day to-morrow. You will
+soon see how the giants and gourmands of the streams will snap at these
+beauties."
+
+"Hang the barbel, Pere Seguin!--let us leave this cold churchyard. I
+feel sick, and a clammy cold creeping over me already--do let us be
+gone;" but he would not move.
+
+"Don't feel unwell, pray don't; it is a well-known fact, that any person
+who feels ill in a churchyard is sure to die within the year."
+
+"Let us leave then, for I do feel very ill;" but the purveyor of worms
+was now too much occupied to listen to me.
+
+Hopeless, therefore, of inducing him to leave till he had filled his
+box, I sat down on a tombstone, and the noise he made with the spade in
+the silence, the darkness, and the peculiar and sickening odour of the
+place, filled me with an indescribable sense of fear and horror.
+
+At length the poacher paused, and having disentangled a very long worm
+from the twisted roots of a large clod, he said, "This makes one hundred
+and thirteen--a holy number. Now I've done, my lad; let us be off."
+
+"Yes--oh, yes!"--for the minutes seemed hours--"let us go instantly;"
+and I sprang from the tombstone, while Pere Seguin proceeded
+deliberately to fill up the holes, and replace the turf, whistling
+through his moustache just as if he had been in the middle of his
+garden.
+
+"One hundred and thirteen!--I like that number."
+
+"So do I, Pere Seguin; but do let us be going. If we remain here, they
+will think that we have killed and buried some one. Do, pray, be off;"
+and I made for the wall.
+
+"Stop!" he said suddenly, drawing himself up to his full height, six
+feet three, "Stop!" and throwing out his long arms, which made his
+shadow on the stones resemble an immense black cross, "Hold there! Look!
+Do you see that tomb--that large gray stone?"
+
+"I see nothing, Pere Seguin, I will see nothing. I close my eyes, and
+only desire to be gone."
+
+"As you please," said the poacher; "but you are wrong. I could have told
+you a curious history--a most interesting history."
+
+"Thanks for your histories--much obliged to you; but I have had enough
+of them." Still Pere Seguin would persevere: "A woman, who has appeared
+to me three times--yes, three following days--spoken to me, pulled me by
+the fingers and by the beard eight days after her death."
+
+"Yes! yes! I know; but which way are we to get out of this infernal
+place?"
+
+"Why, what a hurry you are in!--I say stop, and let me say good night to
+her!"--and Pere Seguin approached the tall gray stone, the moon shining
+full upon it, and struck it with the handle of his spade, calling each
+time in a solemn voice, "Madeleine! Madeleine! Madeleine!"
+
+Had I been at that frightful moment cut in four quarters, not one drop
+of blood would have been found in my veins; my teeth chattered with
+terror, and I would have given every acre of my inheritance for strength
+enough to run away. "Madeleine! Madeleine!" le Pere Seguin continued in
+a low and churchyard tone, "Madeleine!" he cried, leaning on the gray
+tomb, "'tis me, Seguin--le Pere Seguin; good night, good night,
+Madeleine!"
+
+I could not speak, I could not move; and certainly had the lady
+whispered only one single little word in reply, I should have fainted.
+
+"Well, it is all over; she is dead for certain now!" said the poacher,
+shaking his head. "Alas! poor Madeleine! Gone in the flower of her age!
+Dead at two-and-twenty, for having offered me a violet! Dead! Let us
+begone."
+
+I beg you to understand I did not put him to the necessity of repeating
+his words, but found my legs in excellent running order in a moment.
+
+"Hold! not so fast!" said my companion, just as I was springing at the
+wall, and thought myself out of danger, "Hold! Down there, my young
+gentleman, in that dark corner amongst the brambles. You see that little
+heap of earth, which one might fancy a dead man alive had pushed up
+with his knees; well, there also is one of my comrades. Ho! halloo,
+Jerome!"
+
+"Pere Seguin," said I, "this is unworthy of you; you have no right thus
+to mock at and disturb the dead; you only want to torment me; and I have
+already told you, and I repeat it, I feel exceedingly ill."
+
+"Come, come along then--let us go. I shall return here presently to
+sleep. Good night, Madeleine!--good night, Jerome!--good night, all of
+you who are sleeping so quietly under the green turf!"--and it seemed to
+me, as these adieus were uttered, that icy breezes passed from every
+tomb across my face, whispering in my ears, "Good night!" and that the
+firs, the yews, the cypress bending across our path seemed to salute us
+as we left the horrible precincts.
+
+We soon regained the town, and on the road there I would not have turned
+my head for a crown of rubies; Pere Seguin, meanwhile, coolly carrying
+his box of worms, which I would not have touched for the best place in
+Paradise.
+
+The next morning, instead of fishing for barbel, I was unable to rise
+from my bed; and for fifteen nights I never closed my eyes without
+seeing in my dreams ghosts, and all the horrid details of the churchyard
+and the charnel-house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+     Passage of the woodcock in November--Their laziness--Night
+     travelling--Mode of snaring them at night--Numbers taken in this
+     way--This sport adapted rather for the poacher--The _braconnier_ of
+     Le Morvan--His mode of life--The poacher's dog--The double poacher.
+
+
+The object of this chapter will be to give the reader some little
+insight into the habits of the woodcock, and the mode of snaring them in
+the forests of Le Morvan, during the month of November. At the close of
+this month, Dame Nature's barometer, their instinct, far better than the
+quicksilver, tells them the December rains are close at hand; and that
+if they remain in their hiding-places in the low grounds, they will be
+driven out by the approaching deluge. They at length make up their minds
+to set forth on their travels. With a long-drawn sigh, therefore, the
+woodcock bids farewell to the old oaks that have sheltered it all the
+summer, and taking leave of its friendly comrades, the squirrels, it
+sets out on the first fine night for a more genial climate, to the
+delight, no doubt, of the neighbouring worms, who pop their heads out of
+window to witness its departure; and the moment their enemy is fairly
+out of sight, perform many a pirouette on the tip of their tails, and
+dance upon the grass in honour of the joyous event.
+
+If a woodcock was not a woodcock, that is, one of the laziest birds in
+the creation, it might easily reach, in a few days' flight, the dry
+heaths, the hills, and elevated regions, which it loves; but woodcocks
+abhor all violent exercise, always preferring the use of their feet to
+that of their wings, which latter they never agitate, except when
+necessity requires. Well, they have now set out, and after marching all
+night by slow and easy stages, when morning comes our woodcocks make a
+halt wherever they happen to be, breakfast as best they may, and then
+ensconce themselves in some snug spot, where they doze the livelong day,
+till, refreshed by their twelve hours' rest, they set off again with
+renewed strength the moment the sun has gone down.
+
+Thus it is that during the middle of November there is no regular
+flight, but a kind of circulation, of woodcocks, perambulating from the
+lower to the higher regions, and the _gourmet_ and the sportsman fail
+not to stop them on their way.
+
+As it is necessary in this kind of _chasse_ to spend the night under the
+trees and on the damp moss, those who wish to enjoy it prepare for it
+accordingly by dressing themselves like Navarre, in a suit of
+sheepskins, and lay in a good store of cold meat and brandy.
+
+During their nocturnal peregrinations, instinct leads the woodcock to
+follow ascending roads and open pathways, especially such as are
+completely exposed to the mild winds of the south and south-east only;
+they avoid walking through the woods, where the road is encumbered with
+brambles and other obstacles, which would oblige them to hop or fly far
+oftener than they like, occasionally leaving a portion of their feathers
+behind them. Moreover, their feet are tender, and they in consequence
+prefer the paths that are overgrown with grass, the open glades, or
+roads cut through the moss.
+
+It is now that the sportsman who is well versed in the private history
+of the woodcock prepares his snares; for at this period of the year it
+is by them that they are taken.
+
+Penetrating, therefore, the depths of the forest, the experienced
+_chasseur_ soon discovers, in some secluded spot, a path well carpeted
+with verdure, lighted by a few stray moonbeams and sheltered from the
+wind, where he forthwith begins to lay his snares. Should the path be
+broad, he proceeds to contract it, strewing it partially with stones,
+brambles, and thorns; he likewise cuts down some twigs and branches, and
+sticks them into the ground at intervals, so as to present as many
+impediments and _chevaux de frise_ as he can to thwart the progress of
+the lazy bird. The middle of the path should be left quite free, and
+wide enough to allow a couple of woodcocks to walk abreast. Into this
+narrow passage they all walk without suspicion, and their further
+progress is prevented by their falling into the trap which is laid to
+receive them.
+
+This snare is placed across a hole about the size of a crown piece, and
+consists of a strong noose made of horsehair, which is fixed to a peg,
+and so arranged that the slightest touch causes it to rebound and catch
+them by the leg.
+
+In the hole is laid a fine, fat, red worm, healthy and tempting, and, in
+order to prevent the poor prisoner's escaping, the sportsman has devised
+a method of keeping him down in spite of himself, by pinning him to the
+ground at one end with a long thorn--it is presumed worms do not feel;
+his miserable contortions attract the attention of the hungry woodcock,
+who immediately seizes this irresistible tit-bit.
+
+Every preparation completed and the snare baited, the hole, the worm,
+and the noose are carefully covered over by a withered leaf--a second
+snare, similarly concealed, is set on the right, a third in the middle,
+and so on at a distance of three or four feet from each other. All is
+now in readiness, and twilight finds the sportsman covered up in his
+skins at some fifty paces from his traps. Here, after having comforted
+his inward man, and sharpened his sight by swallowing two or three
+glasses of cognac, addressing between them an invocation to his patron
+saint, he listens and waits.
+
+On come the long-bills, looking right and left, pecking the ground,
+peering at the moon and the stars, and eating all they can find in their
+way. They now approach the dangerous defile, and some of the younger
+ones fly over the traps; others, more prudent, turn back; but the main
+body hold a council of war, when the staff officers having decided that
+these Thermopylae must be passed, first one woodcock and then another
+taking heart proceeds, and the sportsman hugs himself in his success on
+perceiving the whole troop making towards the baits he has spread for
+them. Before long one of the birds gets its leg entangled, totters,
+falls, rises again, but in doing so is made fast by the noose, and in
+spite of its efforts is unable to advance a step further. Another,
+hearing the sound of a worm struggling at the bottom of a hole, darts
+in its beak, with the charitable intention of ending the prisoner's
+sufferings, and on raising its head is suddenly seized by the neck. The
+sportsman now steals softly from his hiding-place, and, stooping down,
+smashes the woodcock's brain with his thumb nail, and so on with the
+next, after which he retreats to his post, and keeps up the game till
+dawn. Some persons will in this manner catch from twenty to thirty
+woodcocks in a single night; but they must be favourably placed, have a
+great number of snares, and, moreover, possess a considerable degree of
+skill, and tread lightly, (for the most important point, in this sport,
+is to make as little noise as possible,) and be very quick at putting
+the snares in order the moment they have been used--no easy work, in
+good sooth, seeing that it must be performed by an occasional ray of
+moonlight.
+
+If late on the ground, and you have not sufficient time to obstruct and
+barricade the road as directed above, the earth may be turned up in the
+middle of the path and the snares placed across it; the woodcocks, in
+the hope of finding something to eat, will immediately walk on to
+it--but although this method occasionally succeeds it is far from being
+as good as the first, for the soil does not offer the same resistance
+as the turf, the holes get filled up, and the birds escape more easily.
+
+The sportsman should mind and bag his game as fast as it is snared, or
+master Reynard, who has been watching the whole affair, will pounce upon
+his birds and carry them off, with a dozen nooses into the bargain.
+
+Poachers reap an ample harvest of cash by this mode of taking woodcocks,
+while other sportsmen generally reap the rheumatism; and, truth to say,
+the silence and immobility that must be observed all night long, the
+intense cold, and the damp fogs which cover the forest in the early
+morning, are not very agreeable, and most gentlemen prefer staying at
+home, enjoying the innocent diversion of playing the flute, quarrelling
+with their wives, or emptying the bottle.
+
+To succeed well in snaring woodcocks requires both skill and experience,
+and a thorough knowledge of the woods, the winds, the colour of the
+clouds, the age of the moon, the state of the atmosphere; and, in fact,
+short of being a poacher or a conjuror, how is it possible to know that
+the woodcocks will pass one spot rather than another in a space of
+several score of square miles, and amongst so many and such intricate
+paths. The _braconnier_ alone is infallible on these points, and curious
+specimens of the human biped are these same poachers!
+
+In the first place it must not be imagined that the poachers of Le
+Morvan bear the slightest resemblance to those of England. They are as
+much alike as Thames water and Burgundy wine. The English poacher is a
+rank vagabond, who invades every one's game-preserves at dead of night,
+and kills whatever he finds, whether hares, partridges, dogs, pheasants,
+or gamekeepers,--while ours are men following a legitimate occupation.
+
+In Le Morvan, forests are open to all; there are no palings to get over,
+and no keepers to fear; the public may hunt, shoot, or snare what they
+please.
+
+The poacher commences his hard apprenticeship in early childhood. Nature
+directs him to adopt this course of life, and endows him with a bold
+heart, a cool head, a sinewy frame, and an iron constitution. The
+incipient poachers soon leave the inhabited districts to live in the
+forests, with trees for their roof, and moss for their bed. They study
+alike the woods and the stars, and know the forest by heart, with its
+roads and glades, beaten tracks and untrodden paths. From sunrise to
+sunset they are always-a-foot, walking through the thickets, tramping
+over heaths, or stooping amongst the brushwood, listening, and looking
+everywhere, and by night and by day constantly making their observations
+on the direction of the wind, the habits of the animals that pass them,
+or the birds that fly over their heads.
+
+In this way they ferret out every nook and every winding in the forest,
+and now here and now there build themselves a hut, live upon fruit,
+chestnuts, and their game, which they roast upon embers; and never come
+into a town except to purchase powder, shot and ball, or perhaps a pair
+of shoes, some tobacco, and brandy.
+
+Such is the rough life of the youthful poacher, nor has he any companion
+during this wild period of his existence, excepting a dog, the faithful
+partner of his joys and dangers, and who becomes a devoted friend and
+brother for life. They live together, talk to each other, understand
+each other, and guess each other's slightest wish. I have seen a poacher
+talking to his dog by the hour together, the man laughing fit to split
+at what his canine companion was telling him in his own peculiar way,
+while the dog, rolling on the grass, barked with delight at what his
+master answered.
+
+When on their shooting expeditions, a sign from his master, a nod, a
+wink, an uplifted finger, or the slightest whisper, are either of them
+sufficient for his guidance; he stops, or dashes onward, takes a leap,
+or crouches down, as the case may be, and never is he known to be at
+fault.
+
+On his part the poacher has only to refer to his dog as to the pages of
+a book, and he reads at once in his slightest movements what is in the
+wind, what bird lies hidden in the grass, or what beast is cowering in
+the thicket. By the position of his head, the manner in which he
+scratches the ground, pricks his ear, or carries his tail, he
+understands as plainly as if he spoke whether he announces the proximity
+of a wolf, a partridge, a woodcock, a roebuck, a hare, or a rabbit.
+
+I have known poachers who have told me half an hour beforehand what we
+were going to meet. Another would bid his dog bring him a leaf, a
+branch, a flower, or a mushroom, and off he went, sought, found, and
+brought back the identical article required. "Now, sing," said the
+poacher, and the dog began to sing; not, indeed, exactly like Mario, but
+he produced a kind of melodious growl, a sort of improvised musical
+lament over his solitary life, which had its charm. Most poachers are
+exceedingly fond of music, and as they are always singing in their
+leisure moments, of course their dog joins them; so that when they are
+both in the humour for it, they execute duets in the depths of the
+forest that make the very nightingales jealous.
+
+By the time a poacher has acquired a complete knowledge of wood-craft,
+and that he knows familiarly every path and every bush in the forest,
+every hole and every stone in the mountains, together with the habits,
+character, and favourite haunts of every species of game; has made a
+reputation, and put by some money; that he is beginning to turn gray,
+and is verging on forty, his fondness for this savage kind of life
+begins to diminish, his rough exterior becomes somewhat softened, he
+purchases a solitary little cottage in some secluded spot, comes oftener
+into town, and occasionally partakes of its pleasures.
+
+In poaching, as in everything else, there are varieties of taste, and
+degrees of superiority. Some fish, others hunt only the roebuck and the
+boar, others shoot squirrels and wild cats, others again excel in
+snaring woodcocks, while some are dead hands at scenting and tracking a
+wolf. Each poacher has his peculiar line, and each line furnishes a
+livelihood.
+
+But when it happens, once in a way, that there is a man who unites a
+profound knowledge of the forest to an equally profound knowledge of the
+waters--who hunts, tracks, and shoots all sorts of game with equal
+success, and is also an expert fisherman, then he is a superior man of
+his kind, complete at all points, a sort of Napoleon in his way, and his
+countrymen bestow on him the title of the "double poacher,"--for thus
+was called my worthy friend Le Pere Seguin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+     The woodcock--Its habits in the forests of Le Morvan--Aversion of
+     dogs to this bird--Timidity of the woodcock--Its cunning--Shooting
+     in November--The Woodcock mates--The Woodcock fly.
+
+
+In the last and preceding chapters, the imaginative and romantic have
+predominated almost to the entire exclusion of any description of the
+wild sports of Le Morvan, and I fear that the sporting reader, not
+generally of a very sentimental taste, will ere this have become
+impatient, and perhaps a little angry at the delay. I trust, however,
+that I may be able to soften his indignation, and by the following
+sketches gratify the expectations naturally raised in his mind by the
+first words of the title-page. Of boar and wolf-hunting we shall speak
+further on: my present object will be to give a description, not only of
+the woodcock-shooting in Burgundy and Le Morvan, but also of the habits,
+etc., of that bird.
+
+In the forests of which we are writing, the woodcock is not a mere bird
+of passage, as in other European countries; it does not fly beyond sea,
+like the swallow and most of the emigrating feathered tribes, nor does
+it disappear like the quail, at a fixed period, and reappear at a given
+moment. Here the woodcock seldom if ever deserts the forests which have
+been its constant abode, and the sportsman is sure to find it nearly all
+the year round. I have said nearly, for though not seeking other climes,
+it requires a change of locality to secure a certain temperature.
+
+For instance, in the months of May, June, July, and August, woodcocks
+are to be found in elevated spots, such as mountains covered with large
+trees, or in warm open places on their slopes. At the first approach of
+cold weather they leave the hills, and come down into the plains,
+concealing themselves in the underwood, or the fern, or in the high
+grass, when the snow begins to fall. The woodcock is a melancholy bird,
+and somewhat misanthropic. Its habits are eminently anti-social; it
+flies but little, so little indeed that its wings seem scarcely of any
+use, and with the laziness already alluded to that forms its
+characteristic feature, it seeks out a solitary spot, and having dug a
+hole amongst the dry leaves, there it will squat for days together
+without stirring. It likewise delights to cower under the gnarled roots
+of an old oak, or to hide itself in a holly-bush, and apparently derives
+so much satisfaction from its own meditations, and seems to hold all
+other birds of the forest in such utter contempt, that it never by any
+chance deigns to join their sports, or mingle in their joyous songs. The
+woodcock seeks the darkest and most silent thickets, and likes a marly
+soil, damp meadows, and the neighbourhood of brooks and stagnant water.
+
+But though motionless and torpid, so long as the sun is above the
+horizon, woodcocks are always on the alert, and wake and shake their
+feathers the moment night comes; leaving the shady thickets and grassy
+spots, they flock to the glades and little paths of the woods, and
+thrust their long beaks into the soft, damp soil--for this bird, be it
+remembered, never touches either corn or fruit, but lives entirely upon
+grubs and earth-worms.
+
+It naturally follows that the woodcock, which finds its food in slimy
+marshes, with head bent, and eyes fixed upon the ground, possesses none
+of the gaiety and vivacity of other birds, holds but a very low place in
+the scale of animal intelligence, and possesses a large share of that
+stupidity peculiar to the dull species that were formed to live in the
+mire.
+
+The size of the woodcock varies exceedingly; they are much smaller than
+the domestic fowl, but heavier and larger than the heath partridge; yet
+there are some which are as small as a wood-pigeon, and even less. Their
+plumage is dark, and harmonizes admirably with the trunks of the trees
+and moss amongst which they dwell. Even in the daylight, and at a
+distance of only twenty paces, it is impossible to distinguish a
+woodcock, as it lies motionless, with closed wings, and neck extended on
+the ground, amongst the withered leaves.
+
+When walking on the grass, there is a certain elegance in its movements,
+while the beautiful _chiar' oscuro_ tints of its wings, the gray and
+orange hues on its breast, its long black legs streaked with pink, its
+large beak, small head, and symmetrical proportions, combine to render
+it a bird of no ordinary beauty. Though its eyes are piercing and very
+open, the woodcock only sees distinctly at twilight, and its flight is
+never so even or so rapid, nor its motions so brisk, or its gait so
+regular, as at nightfall or at dawn of day.
+
+The flesh is black, firm, and of a game flavour, and, with the wise, is
+a most dainty morsel, a royal tit-bit. But dogs think differently, and
+have such an aversion to its smell, that they hunt, seize, and bring it
+back much against their will; and, difficult as it may be to account
+for this antipathy, it seems to be as inherent in canine nature, as the
+antipathy which all ladies show to contradiction is in the human.
+
+Far removed from the strife that occasionally rages amidst the feathered
+tribes of the forest, or the more formidable struggles of its
+four-footed inhabitants, whose howls occasionally startle the silence of
+night, and quite indifferent as to whether a fox or a wolf is seated on
+the sylvan throne, the woodcock, like a true philosopher, in the depths
+of the thicket, leads a calm and sedentary life, requiring no other
+elements of happiness than moonlight, rest, and a few worms. Its tastes
+are so humble, its wants so few; it mixes so little with the world, and
+is so ignorant of all intrigue, that nothing can exceed its innocence.
+Like those honest country-folks who can never manage to shake off their
+native simplicity, its instinct never puts it on its guard against a
+snare, and consequently it falls into the first that is set for it.
+
+A complete stranger to the fierce emotions that excite the savage nature
+of those animals that live constantly at war with one another, the
+peaceful woodcock--the bird of twilight--is startled by the least noise,
+and stunned by the slightest accident. Many a time, at dawn of day, when
+lying in wait for the passage of a fox, a roebuck, or a wolf, have I
+seen two, three, four, even five woodcocks slowly issue from their leafy
+covert, and advance with measured step towards the open glade,
+apparently without imagining that by leaving the shade of the trees they
+were exposing themselves to being seen. On they walked, searching by the
+way, plunging from time to time their long beaks into the grass, and
+shaking their heads right and left to enlarge the hole, they breakfasted
+luxuriously on the worms that crept out of it.
+
+Concealed behind an oak-tree, I have sometimes been highly amused by
+watching their motions, nor had I the least wish to disturb them, not
+caring to rouse the echoes of the forest for such insignificant game. So
+the woodcocks went on with their manoeuvres, holding down their heads,
+with eyes intent upon the grass, evidently engrossed by their own
+occupation. In this manner they unconsciously advanced close to me, when
+suddenly rising from the ground I gave a loud shout, at which the
+startled birds were so panic-struck that they literally fell down, and
+fluttering their wings, without having the power to fly, looked at me
+with rolling eye-balls, while their beaks opened as if to call for help,
+emitting nothing but inarticulate sounds, that seemed so many prayers
+for mercy. Somewhat relieved of their worst fears, on perceiving that I
+had no evil intentions, they rushed away head over heels, and sought
+refuge under their favourite roots. The recollection of this scene,
+which only lasted seven or eight seconds, has often made me laugh.
+
+Yet notwithstanding this general want of presence of mind, the woodcock
+displays some cunning in extreme danger,--such as when the shot is
+whistling past its feathers, or when the hawk is wheeling about in the
+air above its head; its faculties then seem to awaken, its blood
+circulates more freely, a spark of intelligence seems to flash across
+its usually obtuse brain, and the magnitude of the peril suggests an
+excellent means of escaping from its enemies. During the daytime, for
+instance, when, snugly ensconced in its hole, and with its ear close to
+the ground, the woodcock hears you approach from afar, instead of rising
+and taking refuge amongst the trunks of the surrounding trees, it first
+reflects solemnly whether it is worth while to disturb itself for so
+slight a noise, and quit its leafy bed, where it lies so warm and
+comfortable. After all, it may be only a hare running past--or perhaps a
+roebuck grazing in the neighbourhood--so the woodcock waits, then
+listens, then stands up and begins to move; on hearing your thick shoes
+trampling the withered branches, it stands motionless, not daring to
+stir, nor can it make up its mind to fly until it feels the breath of
+your dog. Then it rises rapidly enough.
+
+It flies straight, but its flight is not even, and at the distance of
+about fifty paces, and just as you are going to fire, the woodcock, well
+aware that the sportsman's eye is upon it, and shrewdly guessing that
+thunder and lightning is about to follow, changes his tactics, and
+lowering its flight, so as to avoid the mortal aim, suddenly plunges
+down behind a bush. The sportsman, who, not aware of this specious
+manoeuvre, fires at this juncture, thinks the bird has fallen dead,
+and forthwith runs to pick it up, but no woodcock can he find; for on
+raising his eyes, lo! and behold, he sees the provoking bird some five
+hundred paces distant, cleaving the air with sails full set; and as his
+eyes follow it still further, he perceives it flying with all its might,
+ever and anon prudently ducking down to avoid the second barrel.
+
+This is one of the woodcock's best stratagems, and it succeeds ten times
+out of twelve, at least with the tyros among sportsmen.
+
+When fairly tired by its flight, the woodcock drops into the underwood,
+and is then completely lost to the sportsman; for, once on the ground,
+it runs with the greatest celerity, its wings working rapidly like a
+couple of paddles, and vanishing beneath the leaves, falls fainting into
+some snug corner.
+
+In Brittany and in Lower Normandy this ornament of the table and delight
+of the sportsman is found in great numbers at a certain season of the
+year. In Picardy, and in the neighbourhood of Boulogne, I have sometimes
+knocked over as many as twenty woodcocks in one day, while on the morrow
+and the day following I could not flush three. Such is not the case in
+Le Morvan, where they are, as we have before remarked, to be found all
+the year round; the proper seasons, however, for shooting them are
+three. These are, the month of November, before the rains set in; the
+month of April, when they mate; and the sultry months of June and July;
+the period of drought and of the dog-days. In the interim of these
+epochs they are allowed to enjoy themselves, and suffered to fatten
+quietly in their dark thickets. I shall, therefore, only notice these
+three periods.
+
+In foggy or cloudy nights, when the branches of the trees are dripping
+wet, the woodcock, ensconced in its hole, feels no hunger, moves not,
+and would not venture abroad for love or money; but should the sky
+prove clear, and the moon shine forth, lighting up the forest paths, the
+delighted bird steals from its dwelling, shakes its feathers, and
+sallies forth on its adventures. For the woodcock, like poets and
+lovers, is fond of the moonlight and the sweet perfumes of evening.
+Hence it is that sportsmen in France call the full moon of November "the
+woodcock's moon," and they hail its appearance with as much rejoicing as
+do the foxes, wild cats, and poachers, all of whom make sad havoc
+amongst the long-beaked tribe during this fatal period.
+
+The woodcock has been described as an idle, heavy, timid, and stupid
+bird, which passes the greater portion of the day in lethargic slumbers,
+in gazing at the south, at the growing grass, or the falling leaves;
+rejoicing only in silence and solitude; and such is the case during nine
+months of the year. In the spring, however, it is quite otherwise; the
+woodcock then mates, and, ere April showers have passed away, becomes
+animated, sociable, and full of life; and, more extraordinary still, its
+voice, till then mute, may actually be heard.
+
+Yes, at this delightful season the woodcock is no longer silent, its
+tongue is loosened, it breathes its tale of love, and, with joyful
+notes, proclaims its happiness morning and night; and yet there are
+those who would make us believe that the tender passion is useless, that
+love is tom-foolery, or that it does not exist. To these blind
+blasphemers, who thus deny its power, I would respectfully say, Come to
+Le Morvan, and observe the woodcock, and then dare to say that love is
+an untruth. Why, love is the great magician of the universe, the sun of
+our minds, a path of fragrant violets, a perfect copse of _millefleurs_,
+before which we all bend our hearts, aye, and, with vastly few
+exceptions, our heads too. Yes, we all, at some period of our lives,
+taste the delicious draught, and some drink deep of it, either to their
+life-long happiness or the reverse. Love effects many a miracle, changes
+everything, bows the neck of the proud, opens the eyes of the blind, and
+shuts them for those who have very good sight; teaches the dumb to
+speak, and those who are very loquacious to be silent. When the rosy and
+naked little boy makes his appearance with his quiver, all is joy and
+unreflecting happiness; when he is at home with his mamma, alas! the
+world is all in shadow. The woodcocks, in like manner, are amiable,
+eloquent, and engaging as long as the fumes of love affect their brain;
+but when these are dissipated, they are dumb, and ten times more stupid
+than they were before; and, dear me, how many human woodcocks, robed in
+satin and balzarine, or sheathed in kerseymere trousers, are the same.
+
+But, shades of Buffon and Linnaeus! we must not thus rattle on, but
+proceed to describe the nuptial couch of the delicious bird under our
+consideration. The woodcock, like all those of the feathered tribe that
+do not perch, makes its nest on the ground, which is composed of leaves,
+fern, and dry grass, intermixed with little bits of stick, and
+strengthened by larger pieces placed across it. This nest, made without
+much art or care, in form like a large brown ball, is generally placed
+under, and sheltered by the root of some old tree. Four or five eggs, a
+little larger than those of the common pigeon, of a dirty gray and
+yellow colour, and marked with little black spots, are the proofs of its
+maternity. The woodcock, as I have before remarked, has only the gift of
+talking in the spring season, when soft breezes fan the air, and they
+educate their young. Nevertheless, it is in this season that
+woodcock-shooting is the most amusing. Then is the time for gentlemen to
+shoot; the _braconnier_ despises it. From the middle of April to that of
+May is the important epoch at which the generality of animals marry,
+and the woodcocks are not behindhand in this respect; they leave their
+well-concealed retreats, become humanized, solicit the attentions of
+their feathered ladies, and fly with gay inspirations amongst the
+neighbouring bushes. But though as much in love as a widow, the woodcock
+does not on that account forget its habitual prudence; like the usurer
+who lends his money, and takes every precaution, the woodcock is equally
+careful, and does not leave its nest till twilight has draped the earth
+in the gray mantle of evening. When the humid atmosphere descends slowly
+on the trees, when the cool breezes of night ascend the valleys, when
+distant objects begin to assume a fantastic shape, when the branches of
+the oak near you, like the arms of a giant, wave to and fro, and seem to
+ask you to approach; when the withered tree, devoid of leaves, looks
+like a brigand on the watch, or your comrade, ensconced against it,
+seems to form a portion of it at a hundred yards off; when, in short,
+the sportsman can see only a few yards before him, then is the moment
+that the circumspect and wily woodcock leaves its abode, and pays a
+nocturnal visit to his friends; and man, his enemy, and still more
+cunning, is on the alert. The sport which we are about to describe, and
+which does not last longer than from thirty to forty minutes, has
+something particularly taking in it. At the close of day a universal
+silence reigns in the forest, and every sportsman is at his post with
+bated breath, and eyes dilated as wide as a woman's listening to a
+neighbouring gossip's tale, when, all at once--pray note this well,
+reader--a little fly, which plays a prominent part in all sport _a
+l'affut_ (in ambush)--a little fly, about the size of a pea, regularly
+makes its appearance, and wheeling round your head, fidgets you for five
+minutes with its buzzing b-r-r-r-r-r-r-oo. In this way the little insect
+informs you the woodcocks have left the underwood, that they are
+approaching, and that it hears them coming; and odd or marvellous as it
+may seem, this signal of the little fly, which never misleads you--this
+signal which falls upon your ear just at the proper and precise moment,
+is as certain as that two and two make four. Be not sceptical, and
+imagine that this is chance; no such thing. Go when you will to the
+_chasse a l'affut_, station yourself in whichever part of the forest you
+like, be assured the fly will be there; it was never otherwise. The
+question is, who sends the fly? how does it know the sportsman? and by
+what mysterious chronometer does it regulate with such exactness its
+movements? _Chi lo sa?_ He who doth not let a sparrow fall to the ground
+without He willeth it. Equally incomprehensible is the departure of this
+little insect, which, the concert over, and when you are thoroughly on
+the _qui vive_, ceases its buzz, and is heard no more. At this very
+moment, the silence in which you have till then remained is suddenly
+broken by shouts of "They come! they come!" quickly followed by bang,
+bang, bang along the glade; and here indeed they are, at first by twos
+and threes, and then a compact flight, whirling along with appealing
+cries of love, fluttering, and flapping their wings, and pursuing one
+another from bush to bush. They show now neither fear nor
+circumspection, and crazy, blind, and deaf, scarcely seem to notice the
+noise, the flashes, or the cries of the sportsmen. At length all is in
+complete confusion. They toss and twirl about like great leaves in a
+hurricane, and finally fly, with their ranks somewhat diminished, to
+their several homes. This sport lasts but a short half-hour; after
+which, the woodcocks having said all they had to say, made and accepted
+their engagements for the following day, vanish as if by magic, like the
+puff of a cigar, a shadow, or a royal promise, and the same silence that
+preceded their arrival reigns once more in the forest. No gun is loaded
+after their departure; the sportsmen assemble, count the dead, never so
+numerous, as one might suppose, and having bagged them, also retire from
+the scene. I have known one person kill four couple of woodcocks in this
+manner, but it was quite an exceptional case; two or three is nearer the
+usual number. Chance, as in war, in marriage, in everything, is
+frequently the secret of success; but if you are not cool and collected,
+and handy with your gun, you will scarce carry a _salmi_ home to your
+expectant friends. To the young sportsman, the novelty, confusion, and
+hubbub of these evening shooting-parties are perfectly bewildering;
+Parisian cockneys, above all, are quite beside themselves, shutting
+first one eye and then the other, firing, of course, without having
+taken any aim, and eventually beating a retreat without a feather in
+their game-bags. But to the veteran, this fevered half-hour, this brief
+_chasse_, is most delightful; everything conspires to make it lively and
+exciting. The party, ten or twelve jolly dogs, have generally dined
+together, and the onslaught over, they all return by the pale moonlight,
+shoulder to shoulder, singing snatches of some old hunting-song, the
+stars overhead and the woodcocks on their backs. A young Parisian and
+college friend of mine, Adolphe Gustave de----, very rich and very
+witty, whom, after many unsuccessful attempts, I induced to leave the
+capital, and pass six months with me in the deserts, as he called them,
+of Le Morvan, loved this species of sport intensely, though he never
+shot anything. His bag, however, was always better filled than that of
+any of his comrades, for though a wretched shot, he had the wit to stand
+near a good one, and as he was wonderfully quick with his legs, eyes,
+and fingers, he was constantly picking up his neighbour's birds, vowing
+all the time they were his own shooting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+     Fine names--Gustavus Adolphus and the cabbages--Gustavus Adolphus!
+     no hero!--The Parisian Sportsman--Partridge-shooting
+     despicable--Wild boar-hunting--Rousing the grisly monster--His
+     approach--The post of honour--Good nerves--The death--The trophy
+     and congratulations.
+
+
+Few persons well acquainted with France can have failed to observe how
+fond the lower orders, indeed all classes, are of giving high-sounding
+names to their children; and it is sometimes truly amusing to notice the
+strange upset of associations which in consequence jar the auricular
+nerve, and illustrate the singularly exalted notions of the godfathers
+and godmothers. "Gustave Adolphe!" I once heard an old cook vociferate
+from the kitchen of a small inn to a boy in the yard. "Gustave Adolphe!"
+shrieked the aged heroine of the sauce-pans, pitching her voice in A
+alto, "_Coupez donc les choux!_" Cutting cabbages! What an antithesis to
+the glorious victor of Lutzen. The remark will apply with equal force to
+the Gustave Adolphe of the last chapter, though on a different point,
+and the contrast between the great Gustavus and he of Paris, was most
+diverting. My accomplished friend, a charming dancer, a _beau parleur_,
+a first-rate singer, who made sad havoc among the fresh and fair
+gazelles of every ballroom, this tremendous _chasseur-de-salon_, I very
+soon perceived, was by no means so tremendous in the stubbles;--a covey
+fairly startled him, and if a hare rose between his legs he turned quite
+pale.
+
+"My good fellow," I said to him one day, seeing his extraordinary
+trepidation, "if you are so staggered by a covey of partridges, what in
+the world will you do when I set you face to face with a wolf or a wild
+boar?"
+
+"Oh! that is a very different affair. A wolf or a wild boar? Why, I
+should kill one and eat the other, of course."
+
+"Not so easy," I should think, "for a novice like you."
+
+"Novice, indeed! me a novice. Oh! you are quite in error. The fact is,
+these devils of birds and rabbits lie hidden, do you see, under the
+grass like frogs, one never knows where; so that I never see them till
+they are all but in my eyes, or cutting capers like Taglioni's under my
+feet, and your dogs putting out their tongues, and staring at me."
+
+"Why, of course they do; the intelligent brutes are ready to expire at
+your awkwardness."
+
+"Much obliged to you for the compliment. Again, you say, they turn their
+tails to the right by way of telling me that I am to go to the left; and
+to the left, when I am to walk to the right. Who, I ask you, is to
+understand such telegraphs as these? I have not yet learned how to
+converse with dogs' tails--intelligence, indeed! I believe it is all
+humbug; for, when my whole soul is absorbed in watching the tips of
+these very tails, a crowd of partridges jump up just in front of me,
+making as much noise as if they were drummers beating the retreat. If I
+am hurried and stupefied"....
+
+"And if," I added, "you are much disposed to throw down your gun as to
+fire it."
+
+"Well! supposing I am; what is the wonder? 'Tis no fault of mine--I am
+not used to partridge-shooting! I am not a wild man of the woods, like
+you! I did not cut my teeth gnawing a cartridge, as you did!"
+
+"Come, come! don't be affronted."
+
+"Affronted? No; but you have no consideration. You're a Robin Hood, an
+exterminator! if you look at one partridge, you kill four! You sleep
+with your rifle, turn your game-bag into a nightcap, and shave with a
+_couteau-de-chasse_!"
+
+"May be so! but let us have the fact."
+
+"The fact! Then I hate your long-tailed dogs, and your detestable
+flights of noisy birds! Let me have them one by one, like larks in the
+plain of St. Denis, and I'll soon clear the province for you."
+
+"Upon my word, Adolphe, we should have something to thank you for!"
+
+"I tell you what, Henri; those partridges, after all, are trumpery
+things to kill. 'Tis mere hurry that prevents my hitting them. Don't
+imagine I am frightened! If you wish to give me real pleasure, let us go
+to India and shoot a lion or a tiger;--give me a chance with an
+elephant!"
+
+"Willingly; but allow me to suggest, that if we set out for India, we
+shall not get back in time for dinner."
+
+"We will keep in Europe, then; but, at least, show me some game worthy
+of me. A serpent--I will cut him in two at a stroke. A bull--I will soon
+send a brace of balls into him."
+
+"Well done! just like a Parisian."
+
+"Parisian! Pray what do you mean by that?"
+
+"A boaster, if you prefer the word."
+
+"Ha! ha! a boaster, indeed! Do you mean to say that I'm afraid of a
+bull?"
+
+"Of course not. However, as there are no bulls here, I will send the
+head _piqueur_ upon the track of a wild boar which was seen near the
+chateau last night; he will exactly suit you. I consider him as doomed."
+
+"Thank you, Henri; thank you; the moment I am fairly in front of him, I
+shall fire at his eyes, and no doubt lodge both balls in them. Poor
+Belisarius! how he will charge me in his agony! but I shall retire,
+reload, and then, having drawn my hunting-knife, dispatch him without
+further ceremony."
+
+"Never fear, you shall have the post of honour; and if you do not turn
+upon your heel, why, my dear friend, you will rise at least a dozen pegs
+in my estimation."
+
+"Turn on my heel! you little know me; and then, what a sensation I shall
+create in Paris with my boar's skin. I'll have it stuffed, gild his
+tusks, and silver-mount his hoofs. I shall be quite the hero of the
+_salons_."
+
+That very afternoon orders were given to the head-keeper to send the
+_traqueurs_ into the forest on the following day, and on their return,
+they announced that not only traces of wild boar had been met with, but
+one had actually been seen. Great were the preparations and cleaning of
+rifles and _couteaux-de-chasse_ when this intelligence was received;
+but, in spite of his assumed composure, Adolphe's ardour seemed
+considerably to diminish, and the conversation that evening over the
+fire was not calculated to inspire him with fresh courage.
+
+"How very soon they find the boar!" said he to me. "Tell me how the
+affair commences."
+
+"Why these _traqueurs_ are not long in discovering him. They know
+exactly where to look for one, for they study their habits; the traces
+of the grisly rascal are seen by them immediately; they mark his
+favourite paths, the thickets he prefers, the marshy ground in which he
+delights to wallow, and then as to the times he is likely to be seen,
+they can tell almost to a minute when he will pass,--for the wild boar
+is very methodical, and an excellent time-piece. The animal, therefore,
+having been traced, and his retreat carefully ascertained, a day is
+fixed, and each person having been assigned a separate post, remains
+watching for his appearance on his way to or from his haunt."
+
+"Oh! of course, they merely watch and wait," replied Adolphe, with a
+hollow, unmeaning laugh.
+
+"Yes; but you don't suppose that a boar will allow himself to be killed
+as easily as a squirrel. I fear, in spite of all your professions, you
+will find it not so agreeable a sport as shooting larks on the plain of
+St. Denis. The bristly fellow who comes trotting and grunting towards
+you, showing his teeth, stopping occasionally to sharpen them against
+the root of some old oak, is not generally in the best of humours; but
+you can, at any rate, reckon upon the great advantage,--the want of
+which you deprecate in partridge-shooting. For instance, you cannot fail
+to see him; you have notice of his coming; you are not taken off your
+guard, and they very seldom appear but one at a time. It is a combat
+face to face, and his, with two long prominent teeth, so unfortunate in
+a woman, and positively hideous in a boar, effectually warns you that it
+is well you should be prepared to receive him. But the excitement is
+grand; after the volley every one is at him with his knife, and, with
+the exception of a few inexperienced dogs, and a Parisian novice like
+yourself, who, of course, are occasionally put _hors de combat_, the
+affair ends gloriously. Yes, yes, I am beginning to think you are
+right, Adolphe; partridge-shooting and knocking over a timid hare is
+very cowardly sport."
+
+The _traqueurs_ also, whom Adolphe catechised, in the hope of preserving
+his own skin entire at the same time, though they gave him all sorts of
+good advice, failed not to add to it, as people of their class generally
+do, a budget of most fearful histories and hair-breadth escapes--of
+horses and dogs ripped open, and men killed or gored; but that which put
+a finishing-stroke to Adolphe's courage, was the entrance of a friend of
+mine, who had himself been a sad sufferer in one of these adventures.
+Wounded, but not mortally, the boar had charged him before he could
+reload, tearing up with his tusk the inside of his thigh; and, as he lay
+insensible on the ground, gnawing one of his calves off before any one
+could come to his assistance. During the next two months death shook him
+by the hand in vain, for he had fortunately an excellent constitution;
+"And, though the proportions of his left leg," whispered I, "have been
+restored by a slice out of a friendly cork-tree, he is, as you see,
+quite recovered."
+
+"True enough!" said the new arrival, who had overheard the concluding
+remark, "and if you have any doubts, Sir, I will show you my leg;" but
+Adolphe, thoroughly convinced, declined the offer, and retired to his
+room for the night.
+
+The dawn was yet gray, when the court-yard of the Chateau d'Erveau
+presented a very animated appearance; horses, dogs, and beaters were
+walking up and down, neighing, yelping, and conversing,--the huntsman
+every now and then winding his horn, giving notice to the inmates that
+all was ready. The morning was superb, and as the party filed out of the
+yard, doffing their beavers to the ladies, who, screened behind their
+window-curtains, dared not return their salute, Adolphe was a little
+reassured. Long, however, before they reached their hunting-ground, his
+chivalrous feelings had so far forsaken him, that he had serious
+thoughts of returning, on the plea of indisposition.
+
+"Why do you lag so far behind?" said I, riding up to him at this
+juncture, "why your nose is quite white. Nay, don't blush; braver men
+than you have felt far from comfortable the first time they went
+boar-hunting. You are afraid. Come, don't deny it; but, never mind, I
+will not quit you for a moment."
+
+"With all my heart; for, though I cannot exactly say I am afraid, yet
+that infernal cork-leg is continually dancing before my eyes."
+
+"I have not the least doubt of it; and, by Terpsichore! what a pretty
+thing it would be to see the handsome Gustave Adolphe de M---- dancing
+polkas and redowas in the drawing-rooms of the Faubourg St. Germain with
+a cork-leg or a gutta-percha calf! The very idea gives me the cramp in
+every toe."
+
+Conversing much in the same strain, the eight _chasseurs_ arrived at the
+rendezvous, where they dismounted. The beaters and _gardes-de-chasse_
+were all at their posts, and on the alert to the movements of the boar,
+and as we advanced deeper in the forest, the conversation, which had
+been so lively on our setting forth, flagged, and at length subsided
+into an occasional remark on the obstacles which impeded our progress.
+Nothing renders a man more reserved than his approach to an anticipated
+danger. I looked askance at Adolphe, and saw that his teeth rattled like
+castanets; and when the foremost keepers, in doubt as to the track, blew
+a plaintive note, which, ere it died away, was answered by another in
+the distance, showing that we were in the right one, Adolphe's
+breathing became stentorious behind me. And then as the branches and
+hazel twigs, through which we forced our way more rapidly, flew back and
+struck him in the face, he supplicated me to stop.
+
+"Not so fast, my dear friend, not so fast! Have mercy on my Parisian
+legs! Misericorde! I cannot proceed. Do stop! There, my nose is skinned
+by that last branch! Good--there, my breeches are breaking! For pity's
+sake, stop!" But to stop was impossible; and I remained silent, having
+quite enough to do looking out for myself. At length we arrived at the
+appointed spot. Adolphe, in a state bordering on the crazy, his clothes
+in shreds, his face and hands bleeding from the thorns, anger in his
+blood, and perspiration on his brow, his furious eyes looked at me as if
+I had been the author of his misfortunes. And here a scene would most
+undoubtedly have ensued, but happily the head _piqueur_ arrived,
+informing us that the boar was in a thick patch of underwood, about two
+miles from thence, in which he was supposed to be taking his mid-day
+_siesta_, and that a number of peasants having headed him on one side,
+he could not well escape. Our measures were quickly taken.
+
+"Serpolet," said I to the _piqueur_, "have you seen the animal?"
+
+"At a distance, Monsieur."
+
+"What is he like?"
+
+"Oh! a tremendous fellow--long legs, enormous head, large tusks, and
+such a muzzle!--he breaks through everything. A fortunate thing,
+Monsieur, the dogs were not with us."
+
+"Well!" said I to my father, "of course this gentleman is to have the
+place of honour."
+
+"The place of honour!" cried Adolphe, "which is the place of honour?"
+
+"Why, the most dangerous to be sure," replied my father, "the third or
+fourth post from where he breaks cover. The first or second shots seldom
+kill him; wounded, he continues his course, and, savage and ferocious,
+generally turns upon the third or fourth _chasseur_, at whom, with
+lowered head and glaring eye, he charges in full career. Oh! it is then
+a splendid sight, worth all the journey from Paris! Forward, my lads,
+forward! Hurrah! for the boar!"
+
+"And thus--" groaned Adolphe, with thickened speech, not at all charmed
+with this description of his onset.
+
+"And thus," remarked my father, with a bow of the old _regime_, "you
+shall be fourth, and you will see the sturdy grunter in all his beauty.
+Come, my boys! a glass of the cognac all round; then silence, and each
+to his post. Here, Serpolet, forward with them, and remember, gentlemen,
+the word of command is 'Prudence and coolness!' Off! and may your stout
+hearts protect you!"
+
+Then filing out from the glade where we had halted, each of us proceeded
+to his destination, the valiant Adolphe following Serpolet like a dog
+going to be drowned.
+
+"Monsieur," said Serpolet, "you don't seem used to this fun; let a
+graybeard and an old huntsman advise you. I have seen the
+animal--actually seen him--a terrible boar, I promise you, as black as
+ink, clean legs, and ears well apart,--all true signs of courage. As
+sure as my name is Serpolet, he will make mince-meat of us--sure to
+charge. Take my advice, Monsieur; never mind what the gentlemen say
+about waiting; don't you let him get nearer to you than five-and-twenty
+paces; if not, in three bounds he will be at you; and in another second
+you will be opened like an oyster. Take care, Monsieur!"--and, wishing
+him success, Serpolet joined the beaters, who were waiting, all ready
+to advance.
+
+"What shall we do?" said Adolphe as soon as he was gone.
+
+"Do, why, take a look about us."
+
+We were in a kind of low, open glade, about eighty paces in length, with
+an immense oak in the centre--a solitary spot, full of thick rushes,
+tufts of grass, brambles, and matted roots; in short, just the place
+that a boar would make his head-quarters. Adolphe accompanied me step by
+step, examined me from head to foot, and looked in my face as if he
+would read my every thought.
+
+"Well, Adolphe," said I, after I had considered the principal points of
+our position, "the moment has at length arrived when you must draw your
+courage from the scabbard; and I hope it will shine like the light, for
+something tells me you will require it ere long."
+
+"I'll tell you what; I beg you will not commence any of your long
+orations."
+
+"If I talk to you now, it is because I shall not be able in a few
+minutes. Pay attention, therefore, to my instructions. Remain, I advise
+you, behind this oak, then you will have nothing to fear, and be sure
+not to leave it. I will place myself at the angle down yonder."
+
+"Down there! Why you said you would not leave me for an instant."
+
+"Come, come, don't be absurd; the moments are precious; you see I shall
+only be distant an hundred yards."
+
+"An hundred yards! I tell you what--if you go ten yards, I go too."
+
+"What! are you afraid? We are alone; come, be frank."
+
+"No! I am not afraid, but my nerves are shaken; I am thoroughly done up
+with the scramble we have had through these woods; and then that rascal
+Serpolet, who prophesied that I shall be opened like an oyster--you
+shall not go, for I feel sure that when this brute of a boar makes his
+appearance, I shall be unable to look him in the face."
+
+"My dear friend, I will do as you desire. We have still half an hour to
+wait; but remember, no imprudence--and if you should see my finger
+raised, mind, not a word or a sign."
+
+As I uttered this apostrophe, a long and harmonious note from the
+head-keeper's horn, vibrating in the distance, came and died away upon
+our ears; after which, a confused clamour of voices arose, and as
+suddenly ceased.
+
+"Hurrah! hurrah!" said I; "the _traqueurs_ are on the move, the curtain
+is raised, the play is about to commence--and, dear friend, be silent as
+death, for the actor will soon make his appearance on the stage."
+
+During the next ten minutes, a murmur of voices and confused sounds were
+again borne on the wind to the two sportsmen, announcing that the line
+of beaters was steadily advancing, and now they could distinctly hear
+them at intervals, striking the trunks of the trees with their long
+iron-shod poles, thrusting them in the underwood, and shouting in chorus
+the song of the boar.
+
+Again the horn is heard; but now its notes are sharp, shrill, jerking
+and hurried.
+
+"That, my good Adolphe, denotes that the boar has risen, has been driven
+from his lair, is in view, flying before the beaters, and I am very much
+mistaken if he does not ere long pay us a visit."
+
+Another blast is heard, but in very different tones to the last, and
+silence is again spread over the forest.
+
+"There, Adolphe--there's a joyous and melodious note; it tells me that
+the monster is following his usual paths--we are sure to see him soon.
+By St. Hubert, what lucky dogs we are!"
+
+But the Parisian answered not, and leaned against his oak, a perfect
+picture of despair.
+
+"Adolphe," I reiterated, "he won't be here yet, but speak low, or we may
+spoil everything. How do you feel? Do you think you can take good aim,
+and pull the trigger?"
+
+"I feel," whispered Adolphe, "that I am not cut out for boar-hunting."
+
+"Bah! Why, the other day you seemed to think it would be delightful, and
+now you don't appear to like the sport; keep your heart up, be cool, and
+all will be well;--it is only on grand occasions--those when real danger
+presents itself, as you told me the other day--that the proofs of
+undoubted courage show themselves; and then the ladies of the Faubourg
+St. Germain that you were to soften with your tales of forest
+life--'Mademoiselles,' you were to commence, 'when I was in Le Morvan,
+we had famous wolf and boar-hunting, and on one occasion'"....
+
+"No! no!" groaned the Parisian, "I shall commence thus: On one occasion,
+nay, ladies, on all occasions, I much prefer being in your delightful
+society to that of the boars of Le Morvan."
+
+"Nonsense, good Adolphe, you are laughing; why, you were to have the
+skin stuffed, the tusks gilt, the feet silver-mounted, and the tail was
+to be scarlet and curly. What! do you think no more about it?"
+
+"Oh, yes! and of the cork calves also."
+
+"Pooh! have we not two good hunting-knives and four iron bullets in the
+rifles, and a magnificent oak, a perfect wooden tower, for a
+breastwork."
+
+"Yes! we have all this."
+
+"And is not courage your father, and an excellent aim your mother, and
+is not death to the boar in our barrels?"
+
+"Certainly!--death--oh! what a word at such a crisis!"--and on the
+instant two shots were heard, which made him jump again.
+
+"Ah! ah!--good; that's the old gentleman who has led off the ball; the
+music of his rifle is not to be mistaken. The grisly vagabond has by
+this time two bits of iron in his flanks, which will considerably hasten
+his march. Silence! and be on the _qui vive_. Listen! Hear you not the
+distant crash in the bushes?" Two fresh shots were now fired, but
+nearer. "Said I not so? he is running the gauntlet--one more shot. Hush
+again! there he is, tearing along. Hark! not a whisper; your eye on the
+open, your ear to the wind, and your finger on the trigger!" But it was
+not the boar; for at the moment two roebucks and a fox broke near us,
+bounding along at full speed, when Adolphe, his face as pale as his
+cambric shirt, muttered, as he nearly fell upon his knees--"Oh!
+Paris--oh! Chevet--oh! Boulevard des Italiens--I shall never see ye
+more!"
+
+"Why, Adolphe! what the deuce is the matter with you? in the name of
+France, be a man. If my time is to be taken up with looking after you, I
+shall be in a nice situation. No nonsense--no useless fears? Do you, or
+do you not feel able to take part in the approaching drama?"
+
+"No, I don't--I only just feel able to get up this tree."
+
+"What! are you in such a funk as all that? Why, what a poor creature you
+must be! You are the very incarnation of fear!"
+
+"Fear? I have no fear. Who says that I have? I don't know how it is, but
+I certainly do feel something--a sort of qualm, something like
+sea-sickness--everything seems going round--no doubt a sudden
+indisposition--such a thing might happen to the bravest man--Napoleon,
+they say, was bilious at Borodino. We part for a few minutes only, dear
+friend; I shall ascend the oak--an English king once did the same."
+
+Another blast of the keeper's horn was now heard on the left.
+
+"What does that mean?" cried Adolphe, one leg in the air.
+
+"That signifies, the boar is making right for us."
+
+"Does it? Then I am up;" and, with the agility of a cat, he was in an
+instant safely lodged in the branches. "Ah! my friend! how different it
+feels up here--the sickness is quite gone off, hand me the gun."
+
+"In the name of Fortune," said I, "hold your coward tongue--here's the
+boar;" for I could now hear his snorting and loud breathing in the copse
+hard by.
+
+"Do you hear him?" said Adolphe from his perch, his cheeks as green as
+the leaves which covered him.
+
+"Hear him?" I exclaimed, "yes, I partly see him. What a monster! How he
+tears the ground!--how he bleeds and gnaws his burning wounds!--every
+hair of his back stands up, smoke and perspiration flow from his
+nostrils, and his eyes, glaring with agony and concentrated rage, look
+as if they would start from their sockets!"
+
+On came the beaters, and in a few minutes the panting beast burst from
+his thicket, and rushed across the open; my eye was on every movement,
+and, firing both barrels, the contents struck him full in front. It was
+his death-blow, but the vital principle was yet unsubdued; and,
+summoning up all his dying energies--those which despair alone can
+give--he came at me with a force that I could never have withstood.
+Fortunately the Parisian's gun was close to me, and the charge stopped
+him in full career. This was the _coup de grace_. He still, however, by
+one grand effort, stood nobly on his haunches, opened his monstrous
+mouth, all red with blood, gave out one sharp deep groan of agony from
+his stifled lungs, and, falling upon his side, after many a wild
+convulsion, at length stretched his massive and exhausted frame slowly
+out in death.
+
+"Hurrah! Adolphe! you rascally acorn! shout, you _badaud_! give the
+death-whoop, and come down!"
+
+"Is he really dead?"
+
+"Dead! Why, don't you see he is? Come down I say--come, descend from
+your Belvedere--the farce is played out, and your legs are all right.
+You are a rank coward! however, no one is aware of it but me. Don't let
+others see it!" and in a minute Adolphe was at my side.
+
+"Listen, you fire-eater! and I will make you a hero, though you could
+not manage to make yourself one. There were four shots fired; now, take
+your gun, and remember that the two first, those ghastly holes in the
+chest, were your handiwork--do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, but what a horrible morning! what a brute! what a savage country!"
+
+"True, it is not like the Boulevard des Italiens;" and a few minutes
+after, Adolphe received, with some confusion, attributed to modesty, the
+congratulations of all the party. This diffidence, as it may be
+imagined, did not last long; his assurance soon returned, and the
+hurrahs had scarcely died away, before he had imagined and given a very
+graphic description of the last moments of the gallant boar. His toilet
+made, the monstrous carcass was placed upon a litter, hastily
+constructed with the branches of a tree, and the peasants, hoisting it
+on their shoulders, bore the deceased monarch of the woods in triumph
+to the chateau.
+
+In the evening, Adolphe's self-satisfaction was completed by an ovation
+from the ladies, who bestowed upon him the most flattering epithets.
+From the prettiest lips I heard, "What! this Parisian! this pale and
+slender young man, with such delicate hands and rose-coloured nails,
+fought face to face with this terrible beast? Admirable! And he was not
+frightened?"
+
+"Frightened, ladies," said I, "why he was smoking a cigar all the time!"
+And the secret was so well kept, and Adolphe so bepraised, that I am
+sure had I felt disposed to throw a doubt upon the circumstances, he
+would have stoutly contended that he really did kill the animal himself;
+and, to say the truth, he was to a certain extent authorized to say so,
+for the head, handsomely decorated, was sent to his mother, the
+following words having been nicely printed on the tusks:
+
+     "Killed by Gustave Adolphe de M. the 15th of August, 18--."
+
+In the course of time Adolphe's nerves improved so much that he could
+manage to knock down a leash of birds, or roll over a hare; but boars
+and wolves he declined to have anything further to do with; and when I
+met him by accident some years after, in the presence of mutual friends,
+he said, "Ah! de Crignelle, what two famous shots those were I put into
+that boar! But, gentlemen," he continued, with a sigh which seemed
+pumped up from his very heels, "what terrible forests those are of Le
+Morvan, and how dangerous the _chasse aux sangliers_!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+     The _Mares_--Manner in which they are formed in the depths of the
+     forest--_Mare_ No. 1.--Description of it--The appearance of the
+     spot--Mode of constructing the hunting-lodge--Approach of the
+     birds--Animals that frequent the _Mares_ in the evening.
+
+
+Of all the various sports of Europe, that which produces the greatest
+excitement, that which is, more than any other, full of deep interest,
+dangerous and difficult, is without doubt hut-shooting at night on the
+banks of one of our large _Mares_.[1] Here the sportsman, left to
+himself, is deprived of all help; concealed in a corner of a wood, or
+squatting at the foot of a tree, he requires all his courage, all his
+experience; for he then finds himself engaged in a deadly conflict with
+the most subtle and ferocious beasts, possibly a mouthful for the
+largest and most powerful jaws, and at the mercy of the quickest ears of
+the forest. Motionless in his hut, like a spider in its web, nothing can
+put him off his guard--neither the view halloo of the passing huntsman,
+the cheerful notes of his horn, nor the music of the dogs, can distract
+his attention. All around is calm, solitude and gloom surround him, no
+voice interrogates him, no eye sees him; he is alone, quite alone, his
+blood circulates tranquilly through his veins, his faculties are all on
+the stretch, he waits, he bides his time. The shadows lengthen, twilight
+arrives, the forest puts on the garb of evening, the silence and
+solitude are more deeply felt, night is at hand, the moment so ardently
+desired approaches. Imagination begins to work, phantoms of every
+description come across his brain, and glide before his eyes, he hears,
+and fancies he sees the sylvan spirits dancing before him; his ears are
+full of mysterious and unearthly sounds, plaintive and melancholy,
+celestial harmonies, fairy melodies of another world, interrupted
+conversations between the winds, the trees, the herbage and the earth,
+as if they were offering homage to the great Creator of the universe.
+
+Firm at his post, and uninfluenced by this phantasmagoria of the brain,
+without movement and almost without breath, the sportsman waits
+hopefully; for the greatest virtue in this kind of sport is patience,
+the second courage, first-rate--his heart should be of marble, his flesh
+of steel, and his members should possess a power of immobility as great
+as that of a sphynx in an Egyptian temple. Yes! the sport _aux mares_ is
+the most stirring, the roughest that I am acquainted with, not so much
+on account of the real danger attending it, but in consequence of those
+fictitious, unknown, and imaginary, produced by the silence and
+loneliness of the forest. It is my intention, therefore, in describing
+this kind of sport, to enter into the most ample details, in order that
+I may make myself thoroughly understood. I shall take, as representing
+very nearly all the pieces of water to be met with in the forest, three
+kinds of _Mares_ of different dimensions. I shall explain their
+position, the relative value they possess in the eyes of the sportsman,
+the game, large and small, to be found on their banks, and the most
+propitious time for approaching them, and I shall endeavour, if
+possible, to impress my readers with the pleasures and adventures which
+have on several occasions agitated me.
+
+If the woods and forests of Le Morvan, which, by the clouds they
+attract, the thunder-storms that continually fall over them, and the
+moisture that generally prevails, feed a great many streams, the
+district is not the less deprived, by its elevated position, of large
+rivers and extensive sheets of water; for the rains, falling down the
+sides of the trees, and penetrating the thick mossy grass at their
+roots, do not remain for any length of time on the surface of the earth.
+The whole forest may, in fact, be described as a large sponge, through
+which the water filters, descending to the inferior strata, where it
+finds the secret drains of Nature, and is by them conducted into the
+plains. The roots being thus continually watered, the trees are fresh
+and vigorous in their growth, and produce a most luxuriant foliage; the
+ground itself, however, is generally dry under foot, and in some places
+rocky.
+
+It is therefore very rare, quite an exceptional case, to find on the
+elevated heaths, or in our forests, any lakes or large pieces of water;
+nevertheless they are to be seen here and there, and then the cottage of
+the peasant, or the hut of the wood-*cutter is sure to raise its modest
+head on their banks; in time these humble edifices are augmented in
+number till they sometimes become a considerable village. If the spring,
+once a silvery thread, and now a brawling rivulet, changes its character
+to a deep and considerable stream, farm-houses, a chateau, or a
+hunting-box are soon erected near it. If it is merely a tiny source
+rising from the earth, or springing from some isolated rock, and soon
+lost in the moss, without even a murmur, calm and silent, as the life of
+the lowly peasant, which is slowly consumed in the scarcely varying path
+of labour,--then no one takes the least notice of it.
+
+Sometimes, however, the tears which the earth thus sheds, this crystal
+thread, scorned by the unobserving passer-by, is arrested in its timid
+course by some trifling obstacle--a rising path, a fallen branch or
+tree. This little streamlet swells, frets the immediate spot of ground,
+imperceptibly increases in size, and becomes after many efforts, the
+patient work of months and years, something like the basin of a large
+_jet d'eau_, a liquid cup lost in the recesses of the woods, reflecting
+only a very small portion of the blue heavens above; unknown to man, but
+always frequented by thousands of delighted and happy insects, and
+little birds that come there in the great heats of summer to refresh
+themselves, to skim across the surface, and sip, with head uplifted
+towards heaven, its pellucid waters. These little springs, lost in the
+thickness of the mossy turf and the dead leaves, like a gray hair in
+the dark tresses of some village beauty, which accident or a lover could
+alone discover, when thus interrupted and formed into a bowl of water,
+such as I have described, is called a _Mare_.
+
+If, therefore, the sportsman in traversing the depths of the forest
+should chance to discover one of these mirrors of the passing butterfly,
+of the flower which inclines its slender form towards it, or of the bird
+that sings and plays in the branches that overspread its surface, he
+must not look contemptuously upon it, for this little liquid pearl, thus
+concealed in the shade, which the hot rays of the sun would dry up like
+an Arabian well, if they could reach it, may prove to him a mine of
+varied reflections--a page of nature's great book, and in it he may
+possibly find, if he have an observing eye and an understanding heart, a
+type of this lower world, with all its hateful passions, its follies and
+virtues, its wars, rivalries, injustice and oppression.
+
+One day, when out shooting, and following by tortuous paths, to me
+unknown, the bleeding traces of a roebuck which I had wounded, I had the
+good fortune to meet with one of these _Mares_. The piece of water of
+which I thus became what I may term the proprietor, was from fifty to
+sixty feet in circumference, though at the first glance I fancied it
+was only half the size, so completely was it covered near the side by
+thorns and briars, and in the centre by lilies, flags, and other aquatic
+plants. By certain other signs, also, the gigantic creepers, and the
+barkless and headless trees, bending and falling with age; by the deep
+thickets that surrounded it, and by the solitary aspect of the pool, I
+felt convinced that mine was the first footstep that had trodden its
+precincts,--that I was the Christopher Columbus of the place.
+
+Enchanted with my discovery, I determined to mark the spot, for I
+thought it a _Mare_ of peculiar beauty. It was almost surrounded by wild
+fruit trees, which grow in great numbers in our forests: here were the
+sorb, or service tree, and the medlar, bending to the ground under the
+weight of their luxuriant fruit; intermingled with these waved the lofty
+and slender branches of the wild cherry, the berries of which, now ripe,
+and sweet as drops of honey, and black as polished jet, offered a
+delicious repast to clouds of little birds, that hopped chirruping from
+twig to twig: and lastly, I may mention a fine arbutus, which in its
+turn presented a tempting collation to the notice of many a hungry
+bullfinch. The soft turf around was strewed with the shining black and
+bright red berries, which the last breeze had shaken from the verdant
+branches.
+
+To describe the crystal notes, the liquid cadences, the merry songs of
+the feathered inhabitants of this hive, that pursued one another
+rejoicing amongst the leaves, is impossible. Besides, my unexpected
+appearance threw them into perfect consternation; and this greatly
+increased when, drawing from my side my hunting-knife, I began to cut
+down, in all directions, the bushes which intercepted a nearer approach
+to the miniature lake.
+
+The storm of helpless anger, menaces, and complaints from these little
+creatures was quite curious. "Oh! the wretch!" a cuckoo seemed to say;
+"what does he mean by coming here, showing us his ugly face?"--"Oh! the
+horror," cried a coquette of a tomtit, holding up her little
+claw.--"_Helas! helas!_ our poor trees, our beautiful leaves, and our
+lovely greensward--see how he is cutting away--Oh! the wicked man! the
+destructive rascal!" they all piped in chorus. But I paid no attention
+to them, and went on hacking away, and whistling like one of the
+blackbirds. This indeed I continued to do for several days, working like
+a woodman, and all alone, for I did not wish to associate myself with
+any person, lest he should claim a share in my discovery; but it was
+long before I began to enjoy the fruits of my hard labour. The trunks
+were sawn, the branches lopped, and after considerable trouble I at last
+cleared my piece of water from the bushes and parasitic plants which
+blocked it up. The evening breeze now circulated rapidly over it, and
+the sun could look in upon it for at least two hours of the day.
+
+My friends who saw me leave the house every morning with a basket of
+tools at my back and a hatchet at my side, like Robinson Crusoe, and who
+witnessed my return each evening heartily tired, with torn clothes,
+scratched hands, and dust and perspiration on my face, without a single
+head of game in my bag, could not comprehend why I went out thus alone
+into the forest, and remained there the livelong day. Often did they
+persecute me with questions, and try in every way to penetrate the
+mystery; all in vain, my whereabouts remained hidden like a hedgehog in
+his prickly coat, and I managed matters so well that during two
+successive years I was the unknown proprietor and Grand Sultan of my
+much-loved _Mare_.
+
+But when my task was finished, a task that hundreds of birds, perched in
+the oaks, the elms, and the adjoining thickets, viewed with mingled
+feelings of approbation, disapprobation, curiosity, or interest,--when
+the last stroke of my hatchet was given, I said to myself, while looking
+on the result of my unremitting toil, "'Tis well, and what a change has
+taken place in this little corner of the forest. In truth, it looks
+superb."
+
+The little lake was now a perfect oval, and the water, not very deep,
+but limpid as crystal, was full of green and coloured rushes--the
+surface being partly covered by the white and rose-tinted flowers of the
+water-lilies, which reposing delicately on their large flat green
+leaves, looked like velvet camellias placed upon a plate of sea-green
+porcelain. In the mossy turf which bordered it, beds of violets, pink
+daisies, and lilies of the valley, sent forth a cloud of perfume, and on
+the large forest trees hung festoons and garlands of the honeysuckle and
+the clematis; so that the _Mare_ and the surrounding foliage, would,
+seen from above, have appeared like a large well with leafy walls, or an
+immense emerald, which some spirit of the air, returning from a marriage
+of the gods, had inadvertently dropped on his way home.
+
+Having given a description of the lake, I must describe my picturesque
+and sylvan hut. This, constructed of trunks of trees, branches and
+osiers, was placed about twenty paces from the water, completely
+concealed by the bushes that encircled it; the inside was fitted up in
+rustic taste with seats of wood, the whole carpeted with turf, and the
+entrance planted with every kind of odoriferous flower.
+
+This _Mare_, approached by marks known only to myself, became
+thenceforward the source of all my pleasures. At that period very young,
+and equally careless, I would not have parted with my large liquid
+_tazza_, my little lake, my leafy castle, for all the vulgar comfortable
+_chateaux_ in the neighbourhood.
+
+If I have lingered too much over this subject, the reader must forgive
+me for elaborating this picture--this portrait I may call it of my
+_Mare_. He has before him a type of all the others, and this again must
+be my excuse, it is so dear to the unfortunate to stir the still warm
+embers of by-gone memories,--so dear to rouse from their slumbers the
+treasured recollections of early days,--to wake those sweet spirits of
+the mind, those phantoms robed in azure blue, and decked with the
+pearls, the joys which never can glide again across the dreamer's
+path--the joys of youth.
+
+Oh _souvenirs_ of childhood!--of happy hours so quickly gone,--bright
+visions that gild, yes, light the darkest clouds of after years,
+blessed, blessed are ye! Alone, friendless, far from those I love, with
+the heart steeped, drowned in sorrow, a sombre sky before my eyes,
+wintry clouds, that distil but melancholy thoughts all around me,--well,
+I, the poor sparrow, who has been cast from his nest by the raging
+storm,--I hush my griefs to rest in tracing the picture of past
+delights. Yes, memory comes to my relief; I build again in the casket of
+the mind my sylvan hut, careless and full of youthful fancies. I am
+again seated in the depths of my native woods, speaking to the
+light-hearted thrush, and whistling to the breeze.
+
+Once more I bathe myself in the golden rays of the mid-day sun; I tread
+again the forest paths, and am intoxicated with the delicious perfume of
+its wild flowers. Hark! again I hear the cooing of the amorous doves,
+and in the distance the notes of the dull cuckoo, bewailing his solitary
+life.--But no more....
+
+The _Mares_, very different from one another, and having each of them
+very different admirers, are of three kinds; they are either small or
+large, near or distant from the village or neighbouring hamlet; and
+according as they are circumstanced in one or other of these respects
+they are more or less valuable. The largest, the deepest, the least
+known, those in short that are situated in the recesses of the forest,
+are the best and most frequented by game; to balance this advantage they
+are the most fatiguing and the most difficult to approach.
+
+In the violent heats of July and August, when the sun burns up the
+herbage, when the wind as it passes parches the skin, and the sultry air
+scarcely allows the lungs to play--when the earth is quite dried up--the
+hot-blooded animals, whose circulation is rapid, remain completely
+overpowered with the heat in their retreats all day, either stretched
+panting on the leaves, or lurking in the shade of some rock; but the
+moment the sun, in amber clouds, sinks below the horizon, and twilight
+brings in his train the dark hours of night, and its humid vapours, the
+beasts of the forest are again in movement, again their ravenous
+appetite returns, and they lose no time in ranging the woods, seeking
+how and where they may gratify it. Then it is these large _Mares_,
+silent as a woman that listens at a keyhole--silent as a catacomb, is
+all at once endowed with life,--is filled with strange noises, like an
+aviary, and becomes, as night falls, a common centre to which the hungry
+and thirsty cavalcade direct their steps.
+
+The first arrivals are hundreds of birds, of every size and colour, who
+come to gossip, to bathe, to drink, and splash the water with their
+wings. Next come troops of hares and rabbits, who come to nibble the
+fresh grass that grows there in great luxuriance. As the shades grow
+deeper, groups of the graceful roebuck, timid and listening for
+anticipated danger, their large open eyes gazing at each tree, giving an
+inquiring look at every shadow, are seen approaching with noiseless
+footsteps; when reassured by their careful _reconnaissance_, they steal
+forward, cropping the dewy rich flowers as they come, and at last slake
+their thirst in the refreshing waters.
+
+At this instant you may, if you are fatigued, and so desire it, finish
+your day's sport. You may bring down the nearest buck; and then as the
+troop, wild with affright, make for the forest, the second barrel will
+add a fellow to your first victim.
+
+But, no! pull not the trigger; stop, if only to witness what follows.
+See the roebuck prick their ears; they turn to the wind; they appear
+uneasy; call one to the other, assemble; danger is near, they feel it,
+hear it coming; they would fly, but find it is too late; terrified, they
+are chained to the spot. For the last half hour the wolves and
+wolverines, which followed gently, and at a distance, their own more
+rapid movements, have closed in upon them from behind, have formed the
+fatal circle, have noiselessly decreased it as much as possible, and at
+length come swiftly down upon the helpless creatures; each seizes his
+victim by the throat, the tranquil spot is ere long full of blood and
+carnage, and the echoes of the forest are awakened to the hellish yells
+of the savage brutes that thus devour their prey.
+
+The cries of agony, of death and victory, sometimes last for a quarter
+of an hour; and during the fifteen minutes that you are watching the
+scene from your hut, you may fancy the teeth of these brutes are meeting
+in your own flesh, and feel a cold paw with claws of steel deep in your
+back or head.
+
+The slaughter over, these monsters pass like a flight of demons across
+the turf, vanish,--and again all is silent. And when the tenth chime of
+the distant village clock is floating on the breeze, though it reaches
+not your cabin--when the falling dew, now almost a shower, has bathed
+the leaves, with rain chilling their fibres--when the bluebells and the
+foxgloves and all the wood-flowers rest upon their stems--when the
+songsters of the grove, with heads comfortably tucked under their warm
+wings, sleep soundly in their nests, or in the angles of the
+branches--when the young fawns, lost in some wild ravine, bleat for
+their mothers whom they never will see more; and the gorged wolves,
+their muzzles red with blood, are stretched snoring in their dens and
+lurking-places--then it is the heavy boars, shaking off their laziness,
+leave their sombre retreats--take to the open country, and trotting,
+grunting, and with hesitating footsteps, come and plunge their awkward
+and heavy bodies in the marshy waters, and wallow in the soft mud.
+
+
+[1] Query,--fox-hunting and stag-hunting.--TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+     Appearance of the _Mare_ in the morning--Forest etiquette--Mode of
+     obtaining possession of the best _Mare_--Every subterfuge fair--The
+     jocose sportsman--The quarrel--Reveries in the hut--Comparison
+     between meeting a lady and watching for a wolf.
+
+
+The _Mares_ on the borders of which these scenes of strife and carnage
+take place, are found by the morning sun surrounded by a crimson circle,
+and all the horrid details of the battle-field--proof that the weak have
+been slaughtered and overcome by the strong; a humiliating sight! for
+the desolation created by the bad passions of man is far too like it.
+Sometimes these _Mares_ are from two to three hundred feet in
+circumference, and these may be truly termed the diamonds of the forest.
+The _Mare_ No. 1., fed by small but always flowing springs, is full,
+when others are dried up, and is frequented by troops of animals, savage
+and meek, which thirst and heat drive there from all points of the
+compass. These _Mares_, but little known, few in number, much sought
+after--become, more especially at the period of the dog-days, very
+difficult to find. Considered always as the property of the first comer,
+the poacher, who is better acquainted than any other sportsman with the
+localities in which they are to be found, generally takes up his
+quarters near them late at night, and installs himself; sleeps there,
+sups there, and, determined not to leave it under any pretext, laughs in
+the face of the unfortunate wight who arrives after him, in the happy
+delusion that he has anticipated every one else. For it is a forest law,
+and acknowledged by all, that two sportsmen cannot, without disturbing
+one another, sit down at the same _Mare_; possession is in this not only
+nine but ten points of the law; and, if a mere lad, with a
+fowling-piece, happens to place himself first on its banks, no giant
+seven feet high would think of using his superior strength to expel him.
+
+Such is the law--such is the custom--to act in defiance of it would
+expose the culprit to the chance of receiving a charge of No. 3 in his
+jacket; and as each _Mare_ has its wooden hut, in successive summers,
+constructed by you, embellished by me, knocked in, cut about, injured by
+some one else, and repaired by all--the first man who puts the stock of
+his gun on the floor of the cabin becomes immediately and incontestibly
+the lucky proprietor of it for that night.
+
+And how shall I explain to you the thousand cunning tricks, the
+diabolical, the ingenious finesses, the Philipistic and Machiavellian
+diplomacy, which sportsmen employ one towards the other to obtain
+possession? Two friends, for instance, meet by accident on the same
+road; with what perfect and impudent lies do they entertain each
+other!--with what gusto do they try and take one another in!--what
+cheating doubts do they not mutually endeavour to raise, in their desire
+to induce each other to take the wrong road! With the effrontery of a
+_diplomate_, with the assurance of a secretary of legation,--one
+affirms, his hand on his heart, and looking towards heaven, that he is
+going to the left, when it is his positive intention, well-considered
+beforehand, to go to the right. No, France and England, Bresson and
+Bulwer, playing their game of chess of the Spanish marriages on the
+green cloth of political rascality,--never said anything comparable to
+the devices of these lying chevaliers of the forest.
+
+Everything is permitted--every stratagem is fair, so long as either is
+endeavouring to triumph over his adversary; and then, when they have
+gone so far as to be able to wish one another good afternoon, and each
+has convinced himself that he has put the other on the wrong road--that,
+thank the stars, his rival is off, that he is far off, that he cannot
+see him--what haste! what strides and leaps to get speedily to the spot,
+and make himself safe! The running of the celebrated Greek, who, with
+his breast laid open by a ghastly wound, ran eighty miles in ten hours
+to announce to the impatient Athenians the victory of Marathon, was the
+pace of a tortoise compared with the demon-racing of these _chasseurs_.
+
+And, after all this anxiety and rapid locomotion,--after turning and
+winding in and out of the wood, and round the wood to avoid the
+open--across the brook to avoid the bridge--through the brambles and
+thick underwood to avoid the open path--when you think you have cheated,
+or, at any rate, distanced your enemy,--when you perceive in front of
+you the object of your hopes,--the well-known and much-desired hut which
+seems to invite you to repose after your long day's walk--why, at that
+interesting moment, even your own, your very own brother would be a
+veritable Bedouin in your eyes, a man to be put out of the way any how,
+if he attempted to stop you.
+
+At such a crisis, if a real sportsman were to hear that his house was on
+fire, that his banker was off to America, taking with him his wife and
+his money, he would not, I say, in such a moment turn his head round to
+see which way they went;--Imagine, then, when in order to succeed you
+have made yourself out a cheat of the first water, and employed every
+possible subterfuge,--conceive what would be the extent of your anger
+and indignation, what your disgust,--when on arriving at your coveted
+_Mare_, at your oasis, at your paradise, at the spot for which you have
+toiled and invented such lies, to find the hut--occupied!
+
+Sometimes you may find in the possessor a _chasseur_, who likes to amuse
+himself at your expense,--a jocose fellow, who, hearing you at a
+distance working your way through the underwood, and seeing you through
+the leaves advancing with eager and rapid steps to the spot, conceals
+himself behind the entrance, and as you are just on the point of
+entering the hut, your foot just on the step, the droll sportsman puts
+his ugly head out of the window, as a yellow tortoise would his out of
+his shell, asking you, in most polite terms, what o'clock it is; or if
+it should chance to be raining a deluge at the time, remark in
+compassionate accents, "Why, sir, you seem rather damp!"
+
+Job was never so unfortunate as to arrive at a _Mare_ already occupied;
+had he done so, it is not by any means clear to me that he would have
+been able to contain his wrath. For my own part, I have frequently been
+beside myself with vexation, and on one occasion was very nearly having
+a quarrel to the death with my best friend. We had accidentally met in
+the forest, as described, and had deceived each other, as two Greeks of
+Pera would, when making a bargain. After our _rencontre_, my friend went
+to the right, I to the left; he on the sly, turning and twisting by
+footpath and wood to conceal himself from observation; I, on the
+contrary, went directly to the spot, and striding away as fast as I
+could go, arrived at the _Mare_ about three minutes before him, scarlet
+and streaming with exertion, and quite out of breath. My friend who was
+equally heated, but, in addition, disappointed and in a furious rage,
+addressed me in most insulting language, declaring between the hiccup,
+which his want of breath and want of coolness had produced, that I was
+a Jesuit, a hypocrite; and many other affectionate epithets did he apply
+to me with the utmost volubility.
+
+If I had not been the fortunate occupant of the hut, which gratifying
+fact was as honey to my lips and oil to my bones, and had a most
+soothing influence on my temper, I should naturally have revolted at
+such conduct; but this constrained me, and I remained perfectly quiet,
+determined to allow my lungs to regain their composure before I replied.
+Seeing this, his rage increased tenfold, and he proposed a duel with our
+fowling-pieces, hunting-knives, or two large sticks; he offered me,
+also, an aquatic duel of a most novel character,--namely, for both of us
+to undress and endeavour to drown each other in the _Mare_! In short, he
+continued for at least a quarter of an hour to rave and rail without
+ceasing.
+
+But of all this abuse I took not the slightest notice, remaining
+perfectly calm, sitting in my hut like Solomon on his throne, and
+fanning my heated countenance with the brim of my broad hat, as if I had
+been in a glass-house. It is true I laughed in my sleeve, looked
+vacantly at the blue heavens, and whistled the chorus or snatches of a
+hunting song. Finding therefore, it was impossible to move me, my
+adversary finished by getting tired of roaring and abusing; and having
+rubbed the perspiration from his distorted face with a force which
+seemed as if he would rub his nose off, he turned on his heel with the
+grace of a wild boar that had received a brace of balls in his
+haunches,--looking me fiercely in the face, and pouring forth as a last
+broadside, a dozen of oaths in the true _argot_ style, which seemed to
+dry up the very plants near him, and silenced the frogs that were
+croaking in the _Mare_.
+
+Such, however, is the force of habit and of this rule; and so truly does
+every one feel that on the strict observance of it depends the
+tranquillity of all, that the law of first possession is never violated;
+although it is but simply acknowledged by the justice and good sense of
+every sportsman, it is quite as well established in their manners and
+customs as if it were written on tables of iron. The consequence is,
+that however enraged a person may be, he sees, and generally at the
+outset, that his best course is to give way; he may fume and strut, look
+big and villify, but he bows his head and is off with as embarrassed a
+face as yours, gentle reader, would certainly be, if a friend whom you
+knew to be ruined came and asked you to lend him twenty thousand francs.
+
+But also, by St. Hubert, if you remain the lord and master of this
+_Mare_, how your heart leaps, how all fatigue is forgotten! and when the
+twilight approaches, what a fever there is in your veins!--what anxiety!
+I have heard of the delirious and suffocating emotions of a lover
+waiting for his mistress at the rendezvous. Fiddlesticks! I say, gruel
+and iced-water. The most volcanic Romeo that ever penned a letter or
+scaled a wall, is to the sportsman waiting amidst the howling storm on a
+dark night for the wolves, what a cup of cream is to a bottle of
+vitriol. As for myself, I would give,--yes, ladies, I am wolf enough to
+say,--that I would willingly give up the delightful emotions of ninety
+rendezvous, with the loveliest women in the world, black or white, for
+twelve with a boar or a wolf. In return for this bad taste, I shall
+probably be devoured some day or other,--a fate no doubt duly merited.
+
+I will suppose, therefore, that the sportsman is squatting quietly in
+his hut, like a serpent in a bush. With what ardour and nervous anxiety
+does he not await the propitious and long-expected hour! He throws open
+the ivory doors of his castle in the air,--his hopes are multiplied a
+thousandfold. What shall I shoot?--what shall I not shoot? Will it be a
+she-wolf, or a roebuck? No, I prefer a boar. Will he be a large one? But
+if by chance I should kill a sow?--what a capital affair that would be;
+the young ones never leave their mother; perhaps I should bag three or
+four,--perhaps the whole fare. But then, how shall I carry them off?
+Perhaps the wolves will save me the difficulty of contriving that, and
+dispute my title to them,--perhaps they will attack me, eat me, the sow,
+the pigs, and my sealskin cap.
+
+How, I beseech you, is the following _monologue_ to stand comparison
+with the fierce excitement of such anticipations? Will she come this
+evening, the darling--will my sweetest be able to come?--shall I be
+blessed with one kiss?--shall it be on the left cheek or the right, or
+shall I press her lips to mine? Bah! there can be no comparison in the
+hunter's mind; and then you barricade yourself in your hut as evening
+approaches, strengthen the weak points, study the best positions, look
+to your arms; the day seems as if it would never close,--nothing is
+left for you to do but to muse in the interval, and think of the poor
+maudlin lovers, who at this very hour are squatting under a wall like so
+many young apes; or of him who, half concealed, stands on the watch at
+the angle of a dirty street, waiting with a fluttering heart the arrival
+of some sentimental little chit of a girl, who is nevertheless coquette
+enough to keep him waiting for half an hour. And again, with what
+disdain and contempt you regard such birds as pigeons, turtle-doves,
+buzzards, wild duck, and teal; hares and foxes, too, which make their
+appearance from time to time,--to kill these never enters your head.
+
+What, not the fox, with his splendid bushy tail?
+
+Why what do you take me for, good reader?--what can I possibly want with
+that?--I, who am about to knock over two roebucks and three wolves?
+Peace, peace, my friends; skip and skuttle about, young rabbits; nibble
+away, middle-aged hares,--don't put yourselves the least out of the way,
+you won't have any of my powder. Besides, to fire would be very
+imprudent, and to a great extent compromise the sport; for at this
+period the sun is sinking, the shadows are slowly lengthening, the
+roebuck are on their way, and the she wolf in the neighbouring thicket
+is raising her head and listening for the sounds which indicate that
+her prey is not far off. And you listen also to catch the slightest
+noise that comes on the wind,--for each and all are a vocabulary to the
+huntsman,--a gust of wind, the note of a bird disturbed, a weasel
+running across the path, a squirrel gnawing the bark, a breaking branch,
+startles you, circulates your blood, and puts you anxiously alive to
+what may follow. Everything that surrounds you at this still tour of
+twilight courts your attention,--the waving branches speak to you,--the
+hazel thicket, bending to the weight of some advancing animal, puts you
+on your guard; the heart beats, not for the rustling of a silk gown, nor
+for the hurried footfall of woman treading with fairy lightness on the
+fallen leaves. The syren voice is not about to whisper softly in your
+ear, "Are you there, violet of my heart!" nor are you about to reply,
+"Angelic being, moss-rose of my soul, let me press your sweet lips?"
+What you are waiting for are the wild beasts of the forest,--you are
+listening for their distant and subdued tones, their bounding spring,
+their near approach, their bodies as a mark for your rifle, their yells,
+and cries, and death agony for your triumph.
+
+Then the inexplicable charms of danger excite the sportsman's feelings;
+his physical faculties, like those of the Indian, are doubled; he
+grasps his rifle with a firmer clutch, and looks down the blade of his
+hunting-knife with anxiety and yet with satisfaction. It grows dark, but
+his eyes pierce the gloom--his life is at stake, but he forgets that it
+is so; for the love of the chase, the wild pleasures of the huntsman,
+have taken possession of his soul. Breathless, his heart thumping
+against his chest, as if it would break its bounds, he listens, the
+cloudy curtain rises, and with it the moon; the roebucks are heard in
+the distance, then the stealthy steps of the wolves, afterwards the rush
+of the boar: and now, gentlemen, the tragedy is about to
+commence--choose your victims.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+   _Mare_ No. 2.--Description of it--Not sought after by the sportsman--The
+   sick banker--The doctor's prescription--The patient's disgust at it--Is
+   at length obliged to yield--Leaves Paris for Le Morvan--Consequences to
+   the inmates of the chateau--The banker convalescent.
+
+
+If the great _Mares_ No. 1, situated in the dark and silent depths of
+the forest, far from every habitation, and where you find you are left
+as much to yourself as the poor shipwrecked sailor supporting his
+exhausted frame upon a single plank on the angry billows, are so
+attractive, and so much coveted, though dangerous and difficult to
+secure, the same cannot be said of those which lie in the vicinity of a
+village, and which I shall call _Mare_ No. 2.
+
+These last are to be met with easily enough; but being so very readily
+discovered, it is therefore rare to find near them the larger
+descriptions of game,--though the sportsman may see a few thrushes, some
+dozen of water-wagtails, and flocks of little impudent chaffinches,
+greenfinches, &c., which come there to imbibe, hopping from stone to
+stone, and singing in the willows; beyond these he will see nothing
+worth the cap on the nipple of his gun. Nevertheless to him who is
+without experience,--to the hunter who cannot read the language of the
+forest on the bark of the trees, on the freshly trodden ground, or the
+bent grass and broken flowers,--these pieces of water seem quite as
+beautiful and well situated, indeed quite as desirable, as the others.
+
+Perhaps such an ignoramus might prefer them; for they are always more
+open, more free from weeds, rushes and flags, and less dark; and at the
+hour of _la chasse au poste_, the hour of twilight, they are as solitary
+as the _Mare_ No. 1. But the savage beasts of the forest are not to be
+deceived; their instinct tells them that at a quarter, or perhaps half a
+mile from them, there is, though unseen and hidden in the thickness of
+the trees, a farm, or two or three houses; and when they are not pressed
+onward by the winter snows, or by maddening hunger, they stop,--for the
+smell of man is not pleasant to their nostrils, the neighbourhood is not
+agreeable to them, and they immediately withdraw from the spot.
+
+It is thus that these _Mares_ are always at any person's disposal; the
+passing sportsman rarely makes more than a circuit round them; and if
+one is occasionally found on their banks, he may at once be set down as
+a beginner, who, having found the _Mares_ No. 1 in the vicinity all
+occupied, has here installed himself for the evening in sheer vexation
+and despair. Over these pools of troubled water, frequented during the
+whole day by the inhabitants of the adjoining cottages, that eternal
+stillness and imposing solitude, which are the delight of the wolf and
+the boar, never reigns.
+
+The day has scarcely dawned ere the wood-cutters' wives, in their red
+petticoats, with brown jugs on their heads, come to fill them there, or
+to wash their vegetables; the cows to drink, the children to play at
+ducks and drakes, or the men to water the horses. But a little before
+nightfall all this going and coming, this trampling of heavy _sabots_,
+the bellowings, oaths, and cracking of whips subside, and cease, as if
+by magic, when the sun is down. The poultry and the peasants are equally
+silent, their huts are closed, their beds are gained, and their dogs,
+stretched motionless behind the door, snore and sleep soundly with open
+ear, and every leaf without is still.
+
+The _chasseur a l'affut_, if inexperienced or not acquainted with the
+country, while reconnoitring the spot during the last few minutes of the
+twilight that remain, would never imagine that he was near an inhabited
+spot; not a bark, not a sound, not one twinkling light in a cottage
+window, not one wreath of ascending smoke is to be heard or seen.
+Thinking therefore that he has made a grand discovery, he rubs his hands
+with no little satisfaction, squats down at the foot of some tree, or in
+the temporary shed on the bank, and believes he is going to kill a dozen
+wolves at least.
+
+But, alas! it is in vain for him to open his eyes and his ears; nothing
+is to be seen but one or two hideous bats, which flap their wings in his
+face, and frighten him in the midst of a reverie. Nothing is on the
+move; no newt or tadpole is playing in the water, and nothing can be
+descried there but the rays of the moon, as she moves slowly o'er its
+surface; nor is anything to be heard except the wind whistling through
+the trees, or an occasional shot from the rifle of a brother sportsman,
+who, more happy, more clever, and better placed than himself, may be
+heard in the distance. I should not have thought of mentioning the
+_Mares_ No. 2, so little do they deserve attention, if one of them had
+not been the scene of a very strange adventure of which I was witness;
+and as the description of it will give me an opportunity of speaking of
+the _Mares_ No. 3, and of the third mode of taking woodcocks, I shall
+profit by the circumstance to relate it.
+
+One day a _millionnaire_, a Lucullus, a rich banker of Paris, found
+himself dreadfully ill: his body grew larger every twenty-four hours;
+his neck sunk into his shoulders, his breathing became difficult, and
+three or four times in the course of a week he was within a little of
+being suffocated; as many times in the course of a month the gout, which
+in the morning had been tearing his toes and his heels as if with hot
+pincers, in the evening twisted his calves and his knees as if they were
+being made into ropes. What was to be done under these circumstances?
+The best physicians consulted together, and recommended him to order a
+pair of hob-nailed shoes from a country shoemaker, and instantly leave
+the capital.
+
+"Hob-nailed shoes, with donkey heels!" cried the banker, all amazed;
+"and for what, in the name of goodness?"
+
+"Why, to run with in search of health over the wild moors and heaths,
+and improve your figure by long walks in the mountains," was the reply.
+
+And as the only hope of health was obedience, he prepared his mind to
+set off. It is true the doctors permitted him to carry with him his
+cane, his flute, and his eye-glass; but he was obliged to leave behind
+his carriages, his horses, his luxurious arm-chairs and his cooks; in
+short, he was informed that, under the penalty of being quickly placed
+under ground, and obliged to shake hands with his respectable ancestors,
+and enjoy with them the nice white marble monuments under which they
+reposed, he must, for the next year at least, make use of his own legs,
+forget there were such things as _Rentes_, eat only when he felt hungry,
+and drink when he was thirsty.
+
+What a sentence for a rich Parisian banker! to leave his splendid hotel
+and his apartments, redolent with delicious perfumes, and play the
+pedestrian up and down the footpaths in the woods, the mossy glades and
+highway of the forest, or sit on a large stone at the top of a hill
+under the mid-day sun, and inhale from the valleys the soft breezes,
+laden with the odours of the new-mown hay, or the clover-fields in full
+blossom. His box at the grand opera, lined with velvet, must too be left
+behind, and many an adieu be given to the gauze-clad sylphides and
+painted nightingales of that gay establishment.
+
+Yes, all these were to be exchanged for morning walks to the summit of
+some mountain; to make his bow to Aurora, and listen to the joyous carol
+of the larks chanting high in the air their hymns of praise, or
+listening to their blithe little brothers of song, awakening in the
+bushes, and fluttering, amidst a shower of pearls and rubies--those dewy
+gems which hang in the sunny rays upon every branch. "Ah, it is all over
+with me!" wheezed the plethoric banker, when the junior doctor of the
+consultation of three informed him of their unanimous opinion.
+
+"It is all over with me, gentlemen; in the name of mercy what will
+become of me, if I am put on the peasant's daily fare of buck-wheat and
+roasted beans? Consider again, gentlemen."
+
+"It is a matter of necessity, sir," replied the trio; "your life is at
+stake."
+
+"Dear doctors, withdraw these unwholesome words; open the consultation
+afresh; pass once more in review all your scientific acquirements, your
+great knowledge of chemistry, your hospital experience. Press, dear
+gentlemen, between both your hands the pharmacopean sponge, and in the
+name of mercy squeeze out for me some more agreeable remedy."
+
+"There is no other," replied the funereal-looking physicians.
+
+"What, is the house then really in danger?"
+
+"Danger! sir, why it is nearly on fire. Your heart is getting diseased,
+your lungs are touched, your blood is actually scented and coloured with
+the truffles you have eaten. Why, your very nose (pray excuse the
+freedom of our remark), your roseate nose bears testimony to what we
+say."
+
+"Alas, alas! this is I fear the truth; but, gentlemen, if I leave Paris,
+what on earth will become of the Great Northern and the Orleans
+Railways, and the funds,--my dividends, rents, and bad debts?"
+
+"And your feverish pulse, sir, your wrinkled liver, and your digestion,
+which scarcely ever allows you to close your eyes?"
+
+"Yes! yes,--but my Spanish fives and Mexican bonds?"
+
+"And your bilious eyes and eyelids full of crows' feet, and the gout and
+the rheumatism which excruciate you?--those horrid spiders which are
+weaving their threads in the muscles of your calves?"
+
+"But my carrier-pigeons, gentlemen, source of my tenderest care; the
+brokerage, the speculation for the account, and my good friend, the
+Minister of the Interior, and of the _Travaux Publics_; and the snowball
+of my fortune, which must stop unproductive till I recover;--how can I
+leave all these to fate?"
+
+"Think of your respiration, which is disorganized, and the vital
+principle, the torch of life, which flickers up and down in the socket,
+and ere many weeks will be extinguished, unless you at once take our
+advice."
+
+"What!" continued the votary of wealth,--"what! cannot gold purchase
+health, most sapient doctors?"
+
+"No, sir; doctors are paid, that's all, and people cure themselves."
+
+"You persist, then, in saying that I am not even to take my head cook
+with me?"
+
+"On no account whatever."
+
+"Then I am defunct already."
+
+"That you will be so, sir, in two months, if you remain here, there
+cannot be a doubt."
+
+"Then, good heavens! where can I go? What am I to do without carriages,
+without opera nightingales, and, above all things, without a head cook?"
+
+The night succeeding the consultation, the banker felt as if twenty
+cork-screws had been driven into his calves, and he made, ere dawn, a
+vow that he would leave the capital. This determination taken, the next
+point to be decided was in what direction to go,--for it was not a
+journey of pleasure he was about to take, but one of health; and for
+once his riches were of no further use to him than to provide the means
+of transit. His physicians, fashionable men, strange to say, were
+sincere, and did not order him to Nice or Lucca, hot-baths, or mineral
+waters, or even to the orange-groves of Hyeres, to which, when a rich
+man cannot recover, they send him, in order that he may die comfortably
+under Nature's warm blanket, the sun, inhaling with his last
+inspirations the delicious scent of her flowers. To Spain, where, said
+the invalid, they talk so loud and drink water, he would not go; nor to
+Germany, the land of meerschaums and sour crout. Which direction
+therefore was he to take? to which point of the compass was he to turn
+the vessel's prow?
+
+Several times did the unhappy banker pass his geography in review, but
+his knowledge of this science was indeed finite, and the Landes,
+Picardy, and such like spots, alone presented themselves to his
+imagination. In this predicament the light of friendship suddenly threw
+a ray over his thinking faculties; he remembered my father, the
+companion of his boyhood, with whom he had been brought up,--his great
+friend, without doubt, but of whom he had not thought for the last ten
+years.
+
+"By all the blue devils that dance in my brain!" said the unhappy
+_millionnaire_, starting up on his bed of pain, as if he had a spring in
+his back, and throwing at the nose of his astonished apothecary, who was
+watching him, the draught presented to him,--"by the wig of my respected
+grandfather,--by the beard of AEsculapius, I have found the real friend
+who will pour over my head the oil of health."
+
+"My good sir," said his attendant, "pray calm yourself, and take this
+pill" ...
+
+"Yes, that dear friend, he will set me all to rights--he will bring to
+my heavy eyelids those peaceful slumbers which now, alas! I never
+enjoy."
+
+"But, Sir," repeated the apothecary, "pray be so good as to lay down and
+swallow this."
+
+"Back, felon of hell! horse-leech, son of a poultice! go, doctor of the
+devil, and join your friend in black below."
+
+"But _Monsieur le Banquier_"----
+
+"Off I say, off!--sinister raven, cease your croaking! Silence--take the
+abominable drugs yourself--poison yourself, you wretch. Give me my
+trousers, and let me dress myself. Hey, Bilboquet!--bring my hot water,
+razors, and shaving soap. Hurrah! Phoebus, light the sun and put out
+the stars; arise day! Into the saddle, postillions,--here, bring some
+cigars. Hurrah! the wind is up; now, my stout boatmen, down to your
+oars." "Halloo! halloo!" shouted his attendant, "help! help!" and he got
+at both bells and rang away with might and main; but before any one came
+the banker was out of bed, struck his attendant a blow in the eye, which
+made him see one hundred and forty-six suns, and laid him upon the
+floor, after which he commenced waltzing _en chemise_ in his delirium,
+all round the room with a chair, dragging after him the unfortunate hero
+of the pestle and mortar, and roaring at the top of his voice these
+lines of Racine:
+
+  Peut-etre on t'a conte la fameuse disgrace
+  De l'altiere Vasthi dont j'occupe la place,
+  Lorsque le Roi, centre elle enflamme de depit,--
+
+followed by--
+
+  Quel profane en ces lieux ose porter ses pas?
+  Hola, gardes!--
+
+At this moment a reinforcement most luckily arrived; but as in this
+access of fever he defended himself against all comers like a bear, and
+boxed away like an Englishman, they had no little difficulty in
+securing him; at length, in spite of his violence, he was replaced in
+his bed, like a sword into its sheath. There, however, he would not lay
+quiet; first he tore the satin curtains, then he hugged his
+richly-worked pillow to his breast, calling it his best and dearest
+friend, and performed fifty other such antics. He obtained, in short, no
+repose, until his secretary, who entered at his bidding half-dressed and
+with one eye half shut, had written the following note to my father,
+under his dictation,--a letter evidently written in a paroxysm of high
+fever:
+
+"Friend of my heart, jessamine of my soul, bright party-coloured tulip
+of my _souvenirs_, may the Creator pour upon your gray and venerable
+head a stream from his flower-pot of blessings!
+
+"Dear Friend,--Several atrocious doctors, with pale noses, the very
+sight of which gives one the cholic, and with black searching eyes, that
+make one tremble, say that I am very ill,--that I shall die. They say
+too that there is only one mode of cure, and that is to take my valuable
+body into your beautiful province. It is the east wind they say, and
+blue-bottles, corn-flowers, field-poppies, and the green turf; the song
+of the nightingale and the beautiful moonlight nights; the hum of bees
+and the bleating of sheep, which will effect this marvellous cure. It is
+amongst the rocks and streams of your mountains, in long walks in your
+forests, and in your valleys; in the innocent candour of your pretty
+peasant girls, the pure water of your fountains, and the cream cheeses
+of your dairies that I am told resides the power to retain here below my
+soul, just ready to fly away. Alas! yes, I am forced to admit the fact;
+I must say I am very ill, and it is my own fault;--yes, my own undoubted
+fault. I have drank too deeply of voluptuous ease; I have tasted too
+often the luscious grapes of forbidden pleasures. I am no longer
+virtuous enough to wish to see the sun rise, and hence it is that I am
+suffering intensely in the capacity of a human pincushion, in which, one
+after the other, the sharpest and most pointed pins have stuck
+themselves, namely, every infirmity and every disease that mortal man is
+heir to.
+
+"In this delicate and distressing position, dear friend, I thought of
+you: yes, to you, to you only, shall I owe my restoration to health. Do
+not therefore be surprised if, in the course of a few days, you should
+see my shadow approach your hospitable door; and prepare for it, I beg
+you, a small room and a bed of dried leaves, coarse bread, and a jug of
+water. It seems that in order to regenerate my blood I shall want all
+these; and I shall be fortunate if, in seeking a perfect restoration to
+health, I am not obliged to be a swine-herd or keep sheep, to dig, cut,
+and saw wood, pick spinach, or weed the flower-beds! Quick, my friend;
+light with all convenient haste the altar on which we will burn again
+the incense and benjamin of friendship. Blow again the sparks now so
+nearly extinguished of our happy boyish days; revive again the holy
+flames of our youthful affections; and, above all things, have the
+scissors ready which are to cut the Gordian knot of my complicated
+diseases. Soon, in shaking you by the hand, my shadow shall say much
+more."
+
+  Yours, &c.,
+
+
+Fifteen days after the receipt of this extraordinary composition, the
+banker, escorted by a lean and cadaverous-looking doctor, arrived at our
+_chateau_, half strangled with a churchyard cough, and in a state of
+apparently hopeless debility. He was evidently very, very ill; and if it
+had not been for the sincere friendship my father had for him, I really
+do not know how we could have supported the dark cloud which his
+presence seemed to throw upon our house for nearly nine mortal weeks.
+
+No one dared either to move or speak: if you wished to laugh, it could
+only be on the terrace; if to blow your nose, it was to be done in the
+cellar; and as to sneezing, one was obliged to go to the bottom of the
+garden. The horses' feet were wrapped up in hay-bands, so that no sound
+should be heard in the court-yard; the servants went about the house in
+list shoes, and all the approaches to it were knee-deep in straw. There
+was an end to the _fanfares_ of the huntsman's horn, and the rollicking
+chorus; guns, shot and powder, were all placed under lock and key; the
+kennel was mute, and the muzzled dogs looked piteously at one another,
+and hung their heads, as if they had given themselves up to the certain
+prospect of being drowned. The very hares knew how matters were, and
+passed to and fro before the garden-windows; and a stray wolf, which
+came one evening into the court-yard, sat on his hind-quarters and
+looked us impudently in the face; as to the birds, they ate up very
+nearly every peach and apricot we had. The silence of the grave reigned
+everywhere--the house seemed a very sepulchre, in which nothing could be
+heard but the monotonous liquid bubblings of the fountains, the ticking
+of the clocks, and the sighing breezes that whistled through the
+casements.
+
+Fairly worn out with this state of things, I was thinking seriously of
+leaving for the gay swamps of Holland, when a crisis occurred in the
+banker's disorder, and after a severe struggle, in which every bone of
+his body seemed to twist itself round, he was declared by his pallid
+doctor out of danger--saved. Surrounding his bed, we drank with no
+little joy to his perfect recovery, and during one entire week we
+suspended on the walls of his bed-room, according to the custom in Le
+Morvan, garlands of lilies and _vervenia_, interwoven with green foliage
+and wild thyme. From this time he improved daily, and three months after
+no one would have recognized the sick man; his face became quite rosy,
+and his eyes looked full of returning health. With a gun on his
+shoulder, he followed us nimbly through the vineyards, never flinched
+from his bottle, sang barcarolles with the ladies, made declarations of
+love to all the young girls, promised to marry each, once at least, and
+danced away in the evening under the acacias with the nymphs of the
+village, to whom he had always some secret to tell behind the trees, or
+in some snug little corner. The woodcock season having arrived during
+his stay, which was now nearly over, we determined that he should be
+introduced to _la chasse aux Mares_.
+
+Pardon me, kind reader, for all this gossip by the way, but this is the
+point at which I wished to arrive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+     Summer months in the Forest--_Mare_ No. 3--Description of it--The
+     Woodcock fly--The Banker has a day's sport--Arrives at the
+     _Mare_--Difficult to please in his choice of a hut--Proceeds to a
+     larger _Mare_--His friends retire--The Banker on the alert for a
+     Wolf or a Boar--Fires at some animal--The unfortunate
+     discovery--Rage of the Parisian--Pays for his blunder, and recovers
+     his temper.
+
+
+During the months of June, July, and August, the great heats in our
+forests are suffocating, and the woodcock, which during the livelong day
+has been squatting under some mossy root, is impressed with the idea
+that a bathe in a clear pool of cold fresh water would be very conducive
+to its health. Thus directly the sun, red as a shot which leaves the
+furnace, falls below the horizon, and that the clouds surrounding the
+spot where it disappears, at first lurid and bright like fire, then
+yellow like a sea of gold, become cool, pale, and at length sink into
+more sober hues, the woodcock,--which waits only for this moment to open
+its wings and promenade the neighbourhood,--comes forth and commences a
+study of the winds. Guided by instinct, and by the fresh currents of
+air that float unseen in the atmosphere, she follows the sweet upland
+breezes, and soon arrives at the spring or piece of water of which she
+is in search.
+
+The _Mares_ No. 3, in which the woodcock more especially loves to take a
+bath, are almost as difficult to find as the one that I discovered, for
+they are hidden in the depths of the forest; like it, also, they are for
+the most part small, encircled by the thick foliage of the surrounding
+trees, and consequently very dark; and the more this is the case, the
+more solitary they are, and therefore the more sought after by this
+bird. A woodcock never bathes in the _Mare_ No. 1; for to them resort
+one after another all the large game, or those No. 2, as these are too
+open. The woodcocks are discreet and bashful, and, like the wives of the
+Sultan, love a retired bath-room, where they may disport themselves on
+banks ever fresh and green, perfumed with wild flowers, and immerse
+their fair persons in pellucid waters that have never been tainted with
+a drop of blood, or covered with feathers torn from the victim of the
+sportsman's gun. Thus it is therefore that the _Mares_ frequented by the
+woodcock are so entirely hidden by the thick and falling branches, so
+enveloped in deep shade, that you must have eyes made on purpose to be
+able to discover their large brown bodies plunging in the crystal water
+and wading amongst the flags. In aid of the sportsman, now as in the
+spring, a little fly comes buzzing and wheeling about in the air to warn
+the sportsman of the arrival of the birds, which, directly the moon's
+white horn is seen glancing between the trees, arrive flapping their
+wings in small parties of two and three at a time. One afternoon, when
+the wind blew soft, and the sun was refulgent in the azure above, we
+proposed an excursion in the forest to our friend the banker, who was
+now quite convalescent.
+
+"What! do you wish to give me up to the beasts?" cried he, jumping up
+from his seat.
+
+"Not at all, dear sir, pray don't be alarmed; we are merely desirous of
+making you acquainted with the most innocent, the least dangerous sport
+of the _chasse a l'affut_," and having convinced him, we started.
+Everything went well as far as the entrance to the forest; but there the
+_millionnaire_, little accustomed to walk over the stumps of underwood
+and amongst the thorns, he began to drop into the rear, stopping every
+now and then to rest against some tree, or disentangle his legs from
+some yards of bramble, puffing and blowing, and ejaculating Oh's! and
+Ha's! by dozens.
+
+"Courage! sir," we said, "courage! we shall arrive too late; one brisk
+half-hour's walk, and we are at our posts."
+
+"Upon my word, gentlemen, you are really considerate; I walk, I suspect,
+quite as fast as you. But"--and how was he delighted to find an excuse
+for a halt--"you spoke of a _chasse a l'affut_, hiding for what I should
+like to know--for bears, panthers, or crocodiles? is it this kind of
+game we are to watch for?"
+
+"Oh! no--for woodcocks."
+
+"Woodcocks!--what, have you made me walk since the morning through
+perfect beds of briars and over miles of large stones, escalade the
+mountains, descend precipices, and brought me through water-courses and
+dark ravines, to kill a few woodcocks?"
+
+"Would you prefer confronting a wild boar?"
+
+"Certainly," said the puffing convalescent; "if there was no chance of
+danger, I should infinitely prefer killing a boar."
+
+"For to-day this is impossible."
+
+"Why so?"
+
+"Why, in the first place, there are no boars in this wood, and it is too
+late to take you to those which they frequent."
+
+"Then we shall find only woodcocks in the place we are going to?"
+
+"Nothing else; at least during the half-hour we shall remain."
+
+"And if we were to remain more than half an hour?"
+
+"Oh! then we might perhaps by accident see a roebuck--perhaps a hungry
+wolf."
+
+"A hungry wolf!--the deuce! And if there should come by chance a wolf to
+the _Mare_ when I shall be all alone, what must I do?"
+
+"Why kill it, to be sure."
+
+"To be sure, why of course I should kill the ferocious animal,"--and the
+banker, though smacking his fingers and whistling as if quite
+unconcerned, looked very grave. Continuing our walk, we arrived at the
+_Mares_.
+
+"Goodness," said my companion, "how dark it is here,"--looking into each
+hut that was shown him. "Misericorde! if I were to ensconce myself in
+this leafy cabin, this gloomy sombre hole, I should fancy myself seated
+at the bottom of a blacking-bottle--I respectfully decline the honour of
+occupying the hut."
+
+"Very well, let us proceed to another," we exclaimed. But the second
+was pronounced more lugubrious and melancholy-looking than the first,
+and the third not more agreeable than the preceding one.
+
+"It is no longer a matter of doubt," said the Parisian; "you are a
+family of owls. What! place myself in these holes, these mouse-traps, in
+these tumuli of leaves, where the archfiend himself, habituated to every
+kind of darkness, could not distinguish anything?--thank you, gentlemen.
+As to you, you can see clear; but by the great telescope of the
+observatory, if I were to get into one of these rustic ovens, I should
+not in five minutes be able to distinguish the end of my nose--I should
+not be able to find my way to my breeches-pocket."
+
+"But, my dear sir," said I to him, when alone, for my two friends were
+now snugly seated in the rejected huts, "you are very difficult to
+please, and it becomes embarrassing, for these cabins are all alike;
+when you have seen one you have seen a dozen. Now this, believe me, is a
+capital one; come, seat yourself here."
+
+"I am much obliged to you, not that one; for this pool of water in
+particular has something very sinister about it; the spot feels raw, and
+has an unpleasant wolfish air."
+
+What was to be done? While debating thus, I remembered that at some
+little distance from the place where we then were, stood two large
+farms, Les Fermes des Amandiers, and that, at a distance of half a mile
+beyond them, there was a magnificent _Mare_, in the style, it is true,
+of _Mare_ No. 2, large and open, and yet it would be as useless to wait
+for woodcocks there as it would be to hope to catch a trout in the
+basins of Trafalgar-square. Such a spot seemed to me admirably
+calculated for the banker; I resolved, therefore, to conduct him to it.
+
+"If this hut does not please you," said I, "follow me, and quickly."
+
+"Where are you going to take me?"
+
+"Oh! do not alarm yourself, I have just thought of a place that will
+suit you exactly: a charming spot, delightfully scented by a thicket of
+honeysuckles; but you must be on the alert. See, the sun is nearly below
+the summit of the tallest oaks--we shall not have more than one hour of
+daylight; and I must return here."
+
+When we arrived at the _Mare_ of which I was in search, the immediate
+neighbourhood of it was already silent and deserted. "Heavens!" said the
+enchanted banker, "what a delightful spot! Quick!--where shall I place
+myself? Let us look for the hut--ha! here it is, but half in ruins;" for
+it had not, in all probability, been occupied three times in the last
+three years; we were obliged therefore to cut some branches, and roughly
+repair it; and the banker, having crept into the interior, like a sweep
+up a chimney, requested to have his last instructions.
+
+"Well, when night has nearly closed in," said I, laughing under my
+moustache, "be on the _qui vive_. The woodcocks will be here, but move
+not; be like a statue for a few minutes; let them approach--let them
+come, fly and whirl, and look about them; then, when reassured by your
+silence, they will fall into the shallow water, paddle in the grass, and
+plunging throw their legs into the air. At that moment they are yours.
+Take your time and a deliberate aim, and miss them not. The sport over,
+remain where you are, and on our return we will join you."
+
+"All you say is very clear and very pretty," replied the banker; "but I
+feel already a horrid cramp in my left leg; and if I am to remain
+crumpled up in this hut, like a Turk taking his coffee, or like a monkey
+gnawing an apple, when you come for me I shall have lost the use of my
+limbs."
+
+"Oh! if that is likely to be your fate, walk about--stretch your legs;
+you have yet twenty minutes before dark. Adieu, sir, adieu; and good
+luck attend you; for myself, I must be off to my post." But I had gone
+scarcely thirty yards when he shouted after me, "Oh! Henri--my dear
+young friend--come back. Here! see, a pack of wolves! What do I say? no;
+a whole family of bears has passed this way! Look! the border of the
+_Mare_ is ploughed up by the feet of these savage brutes."
+
+"Bears, sir! those marks are merely the trampling of the shepherds'
+dogs."
+
+"Shepherds' dogs! Stoop down--look closer; do you mean to tell me that
+the shepherds' dogs have made these prints of cloven feet in the mud?"
+
+"No! those are holes made by the young calves from some neighbouring
+farm, that came to drink here," I replied, repressing a laugh.
+
+"Nonsense! Henri; calves, indeed! they are the marks of buffaloes and
+wild boars. You cannot deceive me; for I know something about such
+things. Why, this _Mare_ is, I have no doubt, the rendezvous of all the
+beasts of the forest for ten miles round. Thank you, I don't intend to
+remain here."
+
+"Not remain! why you will, if you are correct, have far better fun than
+we shall. Come, get into the hut."
+
+"Remain with me, and divide the honour of the sport."
+
+"Me? no: I thank you,--adieu! and keep your eyes about you."
+
+"Halloo! Henri, come back. By the spectacles of my grandmother, what
+will become of me? I am a fool! I have lost my sight--I have forgot my
+eye-glass."
+
+"Try to do without it."
+
+"Impossible! it is useless--without an eye-glass I cannot see a yard
+before me; I shall most certainly leave this _Mare_. I shall be off with
+you."
+
+"My dear sir," said I to him, "you must know and feel that if I thought
+there was the most remote chance of danger, I would not leave you alone;
+you really have nothing to fear--if you come with me, you will be
+dreadfully in the way, and without doing the least possible good. The
+huts are so very small, that there is only sufficient room for one: we
+shall kill nothing, and be laughed at into the bargain."
+
+"But these terrible quadrupeds; what if they should come and devour me
+when you are gone?"
+
+"I tell you you have nothing to fear."
+
+"Very well, then I will believe you; after all, I am not a coward, but
+a man: a royal tiger would not frighten me, and in spite of these sombre
+looking trees waving to and fro, this silence, and the solitary look of
+the place, I remain; yes, by Jupiter, I remain; only barricade me in the
+rear, cut some thick branches, palisade me well round--there, now I
+think you may leave me, I require nothing more--and yet one word; if I
+were in danger, do you think you would hear me if I called?"
+
+"Certainly, a whisper may almost be heard in the forest at night--the
+trees conduct the slightest sound."
+
+"Well, then, give me a shake of your hand. Adieu."
+
+"Adieu, sir; be patient, and, above all, wait for our return."
+
+"Let me alone for that; never fear my leaving this hut alone."
+
+"And cover your head well, for nothing is so likely to give one cold as
+the night air rushing into the ears."
+
+"And mind, now, don't pray forget me. If you are not here in
+three-quarters of an hour, I shall fire signals of distress, and make
+the forest ring again with my maledictions."
+
+But without waiting to hear anything further, I was off, and soon
+reached my post. The sport, as usual, was pretty good; my friends and
+myself killed four couple of woodcocks, and the _affut_ over, we turned
+our steps towards the banker's cabin. No report of a gun had yet been
+heard in his direction, but suddenly, and when we were scarcely five
+hundred paces from the hut, and I was on the point of announcing our
+arrival by a shrill whistle--two barrels were discharged one after the
+other--then followed a long and heavy groan, and after that a cry of
+distress. In a few seconds we bounded to the spot, and found our friend
+stretched on the grass outside his hut, without his hat, his eyes
+staring wildly about him, and his hair in disorder. He was trembling
+with emotion, and pointed to a black animal, half hid in the water and
+the rushes, which seemed very large, and was rolling from side to side
+in the agonies of approaching death. Fright, downright fright, had tied
+the banker's tongue; and while he is collecting his senses, allow me to
+tell you, good reader, what had occurred in our absence.
+
+Dumb and motionless, as directed, he had, during half an hour, waited
+anxiously for the woodcocks; but the woodcocks had for a very long time
+forgotten the road to this _Mare_; not one came--there was no sport for
+him. He had already fancied he heard us returning in the distance, and
+that his cramped legs would be set at liberty, and his twisted body
+again assume the perpendicular, when all at once a cold perspiration
+stood upon his brow, terror seized him; for behind, nay, almost close to
+him, he heard advancing the heavy tramp and loud breathing of a wild
+beast, and before he had time to observe what kind of an animal it was,
+the brute passed so close to the hut that he pressed it down, and rushed
+on to the _Mare_. More dead than alive, the banker lay half-squeezed in
+a corner of his cabin, and panting for breath, dared scarcely move.
+After a few minutes, however, he hazarded a careful glance outside, and
+not twenty paces from him saw the immense quadruped bathing, and rolling
+himself quietly in the water.
+
+"It is a gigantic boar," said he to himself, "as large as a horse, and
+as old as Methuselah--no doubt the patriarch of the forest--what tusks
+he must have! Let us observe." And with a courage which did him credit,
+he, after some time, suppressed his fear, and felt in the pocket of his
+game-bag for two balls, which, with trembling hands, he slipped into
+his gun. After this he again looked out, and reconnoitred the movements
+of the enemy; but so great was the obscurity, that he could discover
+nothing--unless, indeed, it was a dark mass which walked and jumped
+hither and thither, rolled, frolicked, and rejoiced in his refreshing
+bath. The heart of the Parisian was greatly agitated, and beat as if it
+would split his flannel waistcoat; nevertheless, he took good and
+deliberate aim at the black object in front, and though exceedingly
+terrified, he cocked his gun, and in a perfect fever of excitement let
+fly both barrels, falling immediately backwards in a corner of his hut,
+perfectly bewildered with his own courage. A deep groan followed, and at
+the end of a few minutes of agony and suspense, our friend, seeing no
+tiger in the act of springing upon him, hazarded another look, when he
+still heard the creature moaning, and groaning, and floundering in the
+water.
+
+The fact was, he had by a miracle, and without seeing, done that which
+he never could have done at mid-day,--his two balls had perforated the
+animal's head and neck. Observing the monster raising itself with
+difficulty, and endeavouring to withdraw its legs from the sticky mud in
+which they were fixed, the courage of despair rushed into his heart--he
+left the hut, upsetting everything in his way, and precipitated himself
+upon his adversary with a view of despatching him with the butt end of
+his gun, or making him retreat further into the _Mare_, when imagine his
+consternation and fear,--at the very moment his uplifted arm was
+stretched out, like Jupiter's in the act of hurling a thunderbolt, the
+animal raised himself on his haunches, looked him full in the face,
+opened two enormous jaws, put up two very long ears, and instead of a
+roar full of rage and ferocity, sent forth the most agonizing and
+dolorous bray that was ever heard from the throat of any ass, French,
+English, or Spanish! Yes! it was an ass the banker had mortally wounded;
+an unfortunate ass, which, driven by thirst and the heat of the weather,
+had left his shed at the neighbouring farm-house, to quench it and
+refresh himself with a bath.
+
+Surprise, shame, horror, and confusion began to dance a polka in the
+banker's brain, and made him utter the hoarse cry which we had heard.
+While we were yet gazing at each other the poor creature, by a last
+effort, raised his bleeding head once more above the water, and
+collecting all the strength he had left, scrambled from the _Mare_,
+gave a half-suffocating and plaintive bray, and casting a look full of
+reproach upon the gasping banker, which seemed to say, "I die, but I
+forgive you," fell dead at our feet.
+
+A convulsion of laughter from the party, now all assembled, followed;
+even the birds, awakened from their slumbers, began to sing and partake
+of the general hilarity.
+
+"Halloo! Mr. Three per Cent.," said one, "this is what you call
+sporting, is it--killing starved woodcocks? Fie! sir."
+
+"You are three infamous vagabonds," replied the Parisian, catching his
+breath, and picking up his hat.
+
+"What! sir."
+
+"Why, you are a trinity of rascals, I repeat."
+
+"Why, what's the matter?"
+
+"Abominable hypocrites, I say; this is a piece of acting, a trick which
+you have kindly put upon me--this ass was driven here by you, or by some
+one at your suggestion; I see clearly how it is."
+
+"See clearly, do you? it is a pity, then, you did not a few minutes
+ago."
+
+"It is an infernal plot, I say; think you that I came into this wretched
+country of forests to kill donkeys?"
+
+"Well! but whose fault is it, sir; why did you not bring your
+eye-glass?"
+
+"My eye-glass; I don't require one, gentlemen, to enable me to see that
+you have made a fool of me."
+
+"My dear sir, reflect for a moment."
+
+"No, gentlemen, I feel indignant at the paltry joke you have played upon
+me--you knew that my sight was weak, and on that infirmity you have
+practised a very shameful trick; you have said to yourselves, 'Send an
+ass to this Parisian, he will no doubt take it for a wild boar.' Be off,
+gentlemen, depart; let me have a clear horizon, or I shall proceed to
+extremity."
+
+"Monsieur le Banquier, if you do not become a little more reasonable, we
+shall leave you to your reflections and to yourself, and pretty pickings
+you will be for the wolves."
+
+"So much the better; I wish to remain, I desire it; and after the gross
+insult you have offered me, I shall certainly not be beholden to you as
+a guide, or return to the town in your company." And he kicked the dead
+carcass before him in his rage.
+
+"But, Monsieur le Banquier, the night is getting chilly and damp, and
+remember you are only just convalescent; come, let us be off."
+
+"Gentlemen, I have already told you I shall not accompany you."
+
+"Why, this is madness, sir."
+
+"Anything you please; but thus it shall be. I will not leave this wood
+until I have killed a wolf; yes, I must have a wolf; it is only in the
+blood of a wolf that I can wash out the insult I have received; and I
+will remain in the forest eight days, fifteen, three months, if
+necessary. I will live on acorns, ants, toad's eggs, and roots, but by
+the soul of that stupid brute that lays there," and he gave the deceased
+ass a second kick, "I will not budge until I have killed a wolf: enable
+me to slaughter a wolf, and I will follow you; nay, what is more,
+forgive you."
+
+"Monsieur le Banquier, let us in the first place tie a stone round the
+neck of this unfortunate animal, and throw his body into the _Mare_, and
+then, as we are the only witnesses of this adventure, we swear that we
+will never divulge it to any one, or make the slightest allusion to it;
+and, as we are men of honour, you will of course believe us;--the secret
+shall be kept inviolable. On the other hand, as we are to a certain
+extent responsible for your health, and as your remaining here any
+longer in this cold wind will seriously endanger it, do not feel
+discomposed if we defer to another day the pleasure of seeing you kill a
+wolf, and request you will accompany us back to the _chateau_."
+
+With various flattering speeches and consoling words, to heal his
+mortification, we at length succeeded in bringing him away with us; many
+a laugh had we on our road home, and many were the promises given that
+we would never reveal the events of the evening. But, alas! the secret
+came out on the following day, for before twelve o'clock had struck, a
+peasant came knocking at the door, howling, crying, bawling like a blind
+beggar, and demanding who had killed his ass. His importunity succeeded;
+the murderer was brought to light, the banker cheerfully paid for his
+shot, and laughed heartily at the adventure; but in spite of his
+apparent philosophy, I remarked that from that moment he never met an
+ass that he did not turn away his head; and this is the kind of game
+that one finds in _Mare_ No. 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+     The _Cure_ of the Mountain--Toby Gold Button--Hospitality--The
+     _Cure's_ pig--His hard fate and reflections--The _Cure_ of the
+     plain--His worth and influence--The agent of the Government--Landed
+     Proprietors--Their influence--The Orator--Dialogue with a Peasant.
+
+
+If the Burgundian curates dwelling in the richest parts of the province
+are fat, sleek, and jovial members of the Establishment,--if in their
+cellars are to be found the best and most generous wines, and on their
+tables the most exquisite dishes,--the _cures_ of that portion of Le
+Morvan which is immediately adjacent to Burgundy enjoy the same
+abundance, and appreciate the advantages of good living equally with
+them. But this is not the case with their _confreres_ who reside in the
+uplands, amongst the arid and volcanic mountains, without roads, and the
+thickly timbered hill-district which joins the Nivernais. There the
+village pastors are poor, thin, and badly fed; fairly buried in the
+forest, and surrounded by a population more wretched and squalid than
+the rats of their own churches;--they seem as it were abandoned by
+everybody. That which I am about to relate will prove this, and show
+what a deplorable existence theirs is, and the ingenious methods to
+which they are obliged to have recourse to keep up a fair outside.
+
+One of them thus exiled to a most deserted part of our forests, and who,
+the whole year, except on a few rare occasions, lived only on fruit and
+vegetables, hit upon a most admirable expedient for providing an animal
+repast to set before the _cures_ of the neighbourhood, when one or the
+other, two or three times during the year, ventured into these dreadful
+solitudes, with a view of assuring himself with his own eyes that his
+unfortunate colleague had not yet died of hunger. The _cure_ in question
+possessed a pig, his whole fortune: and you will see, gentle reader, the
+manner in which he used it.
+
+Immediately the bell of his presbytery announced a visitor, (the bell
+was red with rust, and its iron tongue never spoke unless to announce a
+formal visit,) and that his cook had shown his clerical friend into the
+parlour, the master of the house, drawing himself up majestically, said
+to his housekeeper (_cures_ fortunately always have, cousins, nieces, or
+house-keepers), as Louis XIV. might have said to Vatal, "Brigitte, let
+there be a good dinner for myself and my friend." Brigitte, although she
+knew there were only stale crusts and dried peas in her larder, seemed
+in no degree embarrassed by this order; she summoned to her assistance
+"Toby, the Carrot," so called because his hair was as red as that of a
+native of West Galloway, and leaving the house together, they both went
+in search of the pig.
+
+Toby the Carrot, a youth of seventeen, was the presbyter's page, a poor
+half-starved devil that the _cure_ had taken into his service, who
+lodged him badly, boarded him worse, and gave him no clothes at all; but
+who, nevertheless, in his moments of good-humour--they were rare--and no
+doubt to recompense him for so many drawbacks, would call him "Toby
+Gold-button." At this innocent little pleasantry, this touch of
+affability, Toby grinned from ear to ear, made a deep reverence, and put
+the compliment carefully into his pocket, regretting however, no doubt,
+that he had nothing more substantial and savoury than this to eat with
+his coarse dry bread. Toby was a very useful servitor to the _cure_; he
+was always on the alert; fat did not check his rapid movements, and from
+the time the Angelus rang in the morning to Vespers in the evening, his
+long skinny legs were constantly going. He drew the water, peeled and
+washed the onions, blacked the shoes--and how _cure's_ shoes do
+shine!--rang the chapel-bell, gathered the acorns for the pig, intoned
+the Amen when his master said mass, swept and weeded the garden, snared
+the thrushes--which he cooked and eat in secret--and, dressed in a white
+surplice, carried the cross and the Viaticum, and accompanied the _cure_
+at night when on his way to offer the last consolations of religion to
+some dying poacher in the forest. These expeditions were sometimes
+across the mountains, and along the dry bed of some torrent, in which,
+according to Toby's notion, they would have certainly perished had not
+the _Bon Dieu_ been with them.
+
+But we must return to our parson's pig, which after a short skirmish was
+caught by Brigitte and her carrotty assistant; and notwithstanding his
+cries, his grunts, his gestures of despair and supplication, the inhuman
+cook, seizing his head, opened a large vein in his throat, and relieved
+him of two pounds of blood; this, with the addition of garlic, shallots,
+mint, wild thyme and parsley, was converted into a most savoury and
+delicious black-pudding for the _cure_, and his friend, and being
+served to their reverences smoking hot on the summit of a pyramid of
+yellow cabbage, figured admirably as a small Vesuvius and a centre dish.
+The surgical operation over, Brigitte, whose qualifications as a
+sempstress were superior, darned up the hole in the neck of the
+unfortunate animal, and he was then turned loose until a fresh supply of
+black-puddings should be required for a similar occasion. This wretched
+pig was never happy: how could he be so? Like Damocles of Syracuse, he
+lived in a state of perpetual fever; terror seized him directly he heard
+the _cure's_ bell, and seeing in imagination the uplifted knife already
+about to glide into his bacon, he invariably took to his heels before
+Brigitte was half way to the door to answer it.
+
+If, as usual, the peal announced a diner-out, Brigitte and Gold-button
+were soon on his track, calling him by the most tender epithets, and
+promising that he should have something nice for his supper, skim-milk,
+&c.; but the pig, with his painful experience, was not such a fool as to
+believe them; hidden behind an old cask, some faggots, or lying in a
+deep ditch, he remained silent as the grave, and kept himself close as
+long as possible.
+
+Discovered, however, he was sure to be at last, when he would rush into
+the garden, and running up and down it like a mad creature, upset
+everything in his way; for several minutes it was a regular
+steeple-chase--across the beds, now over the turnips, then through the
+gooseberry-bushes; in short, he was here, there, and everywhere; but in
+spite of all his various stratagems to escape the fatal incision, the
+poor pig always finished by being seized, tied, thrown on the ground,
+and bled: the vein was then once more cleverly sewn up, and the inhuman
+operators quietly retired from the scene to make the _cure's_ far-famed
+black-pudding. Half dead upon the spot where he was phlebotomized, the
+wretched animal was left to reflect under the shade of a tulip-tree on
+the cruelty of man, on their barbarous appetites; cursing with all his
+heart the poverty of Morvinian curates, their conceited hospitality, of
+which he was the victim, and their brutal affection for pig's blood.
+
+I shall now endeavour to give the reader a description of the curate of
+the plain; but he should clearly understand that I do not present this
+character to him as the general standard of ecclesiastical
+excellence,--quite the contrary; I am sorry to say I think it an
+exception. My sketch, therefore, applies only to those _cures_, who
+reside in a remote rural district like that of Le Morvan; I advance
+nothing that I have not seen myself, and if I should ever have the
+pleasure of meeting any of my English friends in Le Morvan, I could
+introduce them to ten _cures_ one and all similar in every respect to
+the ecclesiastic I am about to pourtray.
+
+In the interior of this district, that is to say in the midst of her
+rich plains, and in the hilly but not mountainous parts of it, the
+_cures_ are quite of another stamp; less poor than the herbivorous
+gentleman we have just described, but not so well to do as those of
+Burgundy; living under a state of things altogether peculiar to
+themselves, far from the great cities, and yet in direct communication
+with them, they are obliged by a common interest to identify themselves
+with the events of the day. Every curate of the plain possesses an
+immense influence in his parish and neighbourhood, and as at a moment
+their support may be of great use in a political point of view, the
+government, which is alive to everything, caresses, smiles on, and
+cajoles them.
+
+In the moorland districts, also, and in the little villages which border
+the great forests, the _cures_ are everything, and do everything. They
+perform the part of judge, doctor and apothecary, banker and architect,
+carpenter and schoolmaster; they give the designs for the cottages, mark
+the boundaries of estates, receive and put out the savings of their
+flocks, marry, baptize, and bury, offer consolation to the afflicted,
+encourage the unfortunate, purchase the crops, and sell a neighbour's
+vineyard. They represent the sun, by the influence of whose rays
+everything germinates and lives; it is their hand--the hand of
+justice--that arrests and heals all quarrels; the unselfish source from
+whence good counsels flow--the moral charter from which the peasant
+reads and learns the duties of a citizen.
+
+Ask not the population of our plains and forests, and secluded
+agricultural districts, to which political party they belong; if they
+are republicans, royalists, socialists or communists, reds or blues,
+whites or tricolor,--they know nothing of all this. Their
+opinions--their religion--are those of _Monsieur le Cure_. They know his
+prudence, his charity, his good sense; they know he loves them like a
+father; that he would not leave them for a bishopric--no, not for a
+cardinal's scarlet hat;--that as he has lived, so will he die with them:
+that is enough for them. Thus they consult him when they wish to form
+an opinion for themselves, much in the same way as a sportsman, anxious
+to take the field, looks up at the chanticleer on some village-steeple
+to know what he ought to think of the cloudy sky above; and when they
+see the good man sauntering past their cottages, with head erect and
+animated step, smiling, and evidently full of cheerful, charitable
+thoughts, and on good deeds intent, kissing the little children, giving
+a rosy apple to one, and a playful tap to another; offering a sly word
+of hope to the young girls, and a few kind ones to the aged and
+infirm,--all the village is elated; and the old maids fail not to
+present him with a fat fowl, or some such substantial expression of
+their respect. But if, alas! the good _cure_ should appear walking with
+a slow and solemn step, his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed upon
+the ground, and an anxious and thoughtful look upon his brow, his flock
+gaze at one another, and whisper in an under tone that something is
+amiss.
+
+At the epoch of political convulsions and revolutions, when systems and
+governments, men and ideas, arise and disappear, as if they went by
+steam,--when the authorities in the great towns wish to interfere with
+the police regulations and customs that govern the agricultural
+classes,--when they attempt to force them to gallop at full speed on the
+high road of progress as they call it, and that to attain this desirable
+end, handsome young men arrive from Paris in black coats and white
+neckcloths, furnished with a marvellous flow of eloquent sophisms,
+pretending to prove to the simple and honest peasants that in order to
+be more free, happy, and rich, they must, without further ado, kill,
+burn, and destroy,--the villagers, quite mystified, listen with open
+mouth; but as to understanding what the gentleman in black--the dark
+shadow of the government of progress--so glibly states, he might as well
+be talking Turkish or Japanese. Every one looks at _Monsieur le Cure_,
+they scan his face, and ask him what they are to do; and let him only
+feel angry or disgusted with the wordy nonsense, and just make one sign,
+or raise one finger, and 1200--aye, 2000 men would in a trice surround
+him, and send the orator and all his staff to preach their pestilential
+doctrines under the turf, and this without more ceremony and remorse
+than if they were so many mad dogs. Poor fools! who think it possible to
+change a people in a few weeks, and imagine that a fine discourse from
+lips unknown and unloved will have a deeper effect upon men's minds
+than the admonitions of a pastor, whose life has been without reproach,
+and adorned with every practical virtue.
+
+Yes, the influence exercised in our rural districts by the _cures_ is
+great, and this influence is well merited, for it is never abused--and
+never used unless for the benefit and happiness of the flock confided to
+their care. Without any motive of a personal nature, without ambition in
+any sense to which that word can apply, they preach the Catholic
+religion in all its simplicity, accepting and considering as brothers
+all those who really desire to follow the example of their Saviour
+Christ--all those who really love to do good; unworldly and unselfish,
+they would think themselves dishonoured, their reputation sullied, if
+the gown, which gives them in the eyes of the people a sacred character,
+served as a cloak, a pretext to cover a dishonourable or disgraceful
+action.
+
+It is also remarkable, and speaks volumes in their favour, that the
+bishops are almost always at war with these poor and self-denying
+_cures_, and would wish to see them take more interest in temporal
+affairs, which they do not in the least understand; they would fain put
+into their mouths the language of anger and bitter feeling, alike
+foreign to their natures and the religion of their Divine master. The
+large proprietors also, those who live on their estates and do not press
+hard upon their dependants, enjoy great consideration, and share largely
+with the _cures_ the hold they have on the affections of the people.
+They frequently direct the opinions of the masses, and, with the
+exception of their pastors, are the only class our rural population know
+and revere. As to the generality of our statesmen, good, bad, or
+indifferent, their names, brilliant as they may be, are not half so well
+known in our villages as that of the most obscure labourer, the humble
+artizan who knows how to file a saw or make a wheel.
+
+"Who is that gentleman, sir?" said a Morvinian of the plain to me one
+day, pointing to a tall thin man, with a bald head, and a pair of gold
+spectacles on his nose,--a notability of the legislative assembly who
+was going to step into the village tribune.
+
+"That gentleman?" I replied; "he is an orator."
+
+"Ah! an orator: and pray what sort of a bird is that? what is he going
+to chirrup about?"
+
+"An orator is not a bird, my good fellow; he does not sing, he makes
+very fine speeches."
+
+"And what of them?"
+
+"What of them? why they teach men their duty."
+
+"Their duty in what?" continued the peasant, with his pinching logic.
+"Is it the duty of a father, of a son, of a soldier, of a baker?"
+
+"Not at all; the duty of a citizen."
+
+"Citizen? I don't understand, sir," said the peasant.
+
+"Well, your political duties, if you like it better."
+
+"I am still none the wiser. And so this fine gentleman, with his yellow
+spectacles and bald head, is not going to tell us anything about crops,
+vineyards, planting, or sowing?"
+
+"No; but he will teach you your duty as a man, as a Frenchman, a
+citizen--a member of the great human family; he will teach you your
+rights; what you can and should demand of your government under the
+articles 199, 305, 1202, 9999 of the charter--the last charter."
+
+"Sir, I am ashamed to have troubled you; I thank you much for your
+explanation; I wish you a very good morning; for mathematics you see,
+sir, do send me to sleep, and our _cure_ will tell me all about it on
+Sunday. I shall go back to the forest, and finish my job of yesterday."
+
+And are not these simple-minded men much in the right? is not all the
+good sense on their side?--they, who living by the axe, the plough, and
+the produce of the earth, think only of their trees and their fields,
+and ask of God but health and strength to work, rain and sun to nourish
+the vines and gild their harvests. They leave to those who possess their
+confidence, because they have never deceived them, the care of their
+political interests; the care of setting and keeping them in the right
+path, and of directing them in that current of life, slow it is true,
+but which nevertheless is more effectual towards ameliorating the
+condition, and eventually increasing the happiness of the human race,
+than all the new-fangled doctrines promulgated by the statesmen and
+philosophers of France.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+     The wolf--His aspect and extreme ferocity--His cunning in hunting
+     his prey--His unsocial nature--Antiquity of the race--Where found,
+     and their varieties--Annihilated in England by the perseverance of
+     the kings and people--Decrees and rewards to encourage their
+     destruction by Athelstane, John, and Edward I.--Death of the last
+     wolf in England--Death of the last in Ireland.
+
+
+The wild and furious wolf, both prudent and cowardly, is, from its
+strength and voracity, the terror and the most formidable pest of the
+inhabitants of those districts of France in which it is found. Provided
+by Nature with a craving appetite for blood, possessing great muscular
+powers, and an extraordinary scent, whether hunting or laying in ambush;
+always ready to pursue and tear its victim limb from limb, the
+wolf,--this tyrant,--this buccaneer of the forest lives only upon
+rapine, and loves nothing but carnage.
+
+The aspect of the wolf has something sinister and terrible in its
+appearance, which his sanguinary and brutal disposition does not belie.
+His head is large, his eyes sparkle with a diabolical and cannibal look,
+and in the night seem to burn like two yellow flames. His muzzle is
+black, his cheeks are hollow, the upper lip and chin white, the jaws and
+teeth are of prodigious strength, the ears short and straight, the tail
+tufty, the opening of the mouth large, and the neck so short that he is
+obliged to move his whole body in order to look on one side. His length
+in our forests, from the extreme point of the muzzle to the root of the
+tail, is generally about three feet; his height two and a half feet. The
+colour of his hair is black and red, mingled with white and gray; a
+thick and rude fur, on which the showers and severe cold of winter have
+no effect. The limbs of this animal are well set, his step is firm and
+quick, the muscles of the neck and fore part of the body are of unusual
+strength,--he will easily carry off a fat sheep in his mouth, without
+resting it on the ground, and run with it faster than the shepherd who
+flies to its rescue. His senses are delicate and sensitive in the
+extreme; that of smelling, as I have before remarked, particularly: he
+can scent his prey at an immense distance,--blood which is fresh and
+flowing will attract him at least a league from the spot. When he
+leaves the forest, he never forgets to stop on its verge; there turning
+round, he snuffs the breeze, plunges his nostrils deep into the passing
+wind, and receives through his wonderful instinct a knowledge of what is
+going on amongst the animals, dead or alive, that are in the
+neighbourhood.
+
+The declared and uncompromising enemy to almost everything that has
+life, the wolf attacks not only cows, oxen, horses, sheep, goats, and
+pigs, but also fowls and turkeys, and especially geese, for which he has
+a great fancy. In the woods also he destroys large quantities of game,
+such as fawns and roebucks; and even the wild boar himself, when young,
+is sometimes brought to his larder, for the wolf is one of that
+voracious tribe which professes a profound contempt for vegetable diet,
+and cannot do without flesh; hence the number of his devices for
+supplying his table and varying his bill of fare is astonishing. But
+mankind, it must be said in all justice, are not behindhand with him;
+they are always on the alert; they meet him with tricks as clever as his
+own, heap snare on snare to take him, and the result is that Mr. Lupus,
+in spite of his strength, his agility, his practical experience, and
+cunning instincts, often stretches out his limbs in death in the dark
+ravines of the forest--the victim of his enemy's superior intelligence.
+
+Obliged during the day to hide himself in the most solitary parts of the
+woods, he finds there only those animals whose rapid flight enables them
+to escape his clutches. Sometimes, however, after the exercise of
+prodigious patience on his part, by lying in wait the whole day, at a
+spot where he knows they will be certain to pass when the sun goes down,
+a defenceless roebuck will occasionally fall into his jaws.
+
+This chance on the sly producing nothing, when night has set in he seeks
+the open country, approaches the farms, attacks the sheepfolds,
+scratches his way under the doors, and entering wild with rage, puts
+everything to death--for, to his infernal spirit, destruction is as
+great a pleasure as the satisfaction of his hunger.
+
+When the dogs growl in an under tone, when they are restless and
+agitated, and snuff the wind as it drives in eddies through the
+shutters, "The wolf is abroad," say the peasants.
+
+If these runs in the open country by the light of the moon afford no
+supper, he returns to the depths of his lair, or takes up the scent of
+some roebuck, tracks it like a hound, and though his hope is small
+indeed of ever catching it, he perseveringly follows the trail, trusting
+that some other wolf, famished like himself, will head the timid animal
+in its flight, and seize it as it passes, and that, like staunch
+friends, they will afterwards divide the spoil between them.
+
+But the reverse more often occurs,--and foiled and disappointed, he then
+becomes, though naturally a dastard and full of fear, absolutely
+courageous; the fire of hunger consumes his stomach, he fears nothing,
+and braves every danger; all prudence is forgotten, and his natural
+ferocity is wound up to such a pitch, that he hesitates not to meet
+certain destruction, attacks the animals that are actually under the
+care of man, man himself,--throws himself suddenly upon the poor
+benighted traveller, and gliding slowly and softly, with the stealthy
+movements of a serpent, seizes and carries off with him to the depth of
+the forest the infant sleeping in its cradle, or the little, helpless,
+innocent child which, ignorant of danger, laughs and plays at the
+cottage-door.
+
+Unsociable as well as savage, with a heart harder than the ball which
+drills the ghastly hole in his side, loving only himself and his dark
+solitudes, the wolf never associates with its own kind; and when, by
+accident, it happens that a few are seen together, be sure the meeting
+is not a Peace Congress, or a party of pleasure. The assembled wolves
+represent a society of reds, preparing the arrangements for a combat, in
+which many a stream of blood shall flow, amidst the most fearful and
+horrible cries. If a wolf intends to attack a large animal,--for
+instance, an ox or a horse,--or if he desires to put a watch-dog, whose
+strength disquiets him, or whose vigilance incommodes him, out of his
+way, he roves about the lonely paths of the forest, raising a sharp
+prolonged cry, which immediately attracts other wolves in the
+neighbourhood; and when he finds himself surrounded by a numerous troop
+of his colleagues, bound together by no other tie than the common object
+they all have in view for the moment, he conducts them to the attack,
+and should the farmer be not there to out-manoeuvre them, it will be
+odd indeed if the animal that they have agreed to destroy does not fall
+a victim to their plans. The expedition over, the valiant brotherhood
+separate, and each returns in silence to his thicket, whence they emerge
+to reunite, when slaughter and blood call them forth again to make
+common cause.
+
+Wolves attain their full size in three years, and live from fifteen to
+twenty; their hair, like that of man, grows gray with years, and like
+him also they lose their teeth, but without the advantage of being able
+to replace them; the race of wolves is as old as the flood,--even older,
+for their bones have been found in antediluvian remains. They are found
+in all countries on the New Continent as well as the Old. "They exist,"
+observes Cuvier, "in Asia, Africa, and America, as well as in Europe;
+from Egypt to Lapland; everywhere, in fact, excepting in England." How
+an animal so detestable and so universally hated should have continued
+to perpetuate itself, when every other species of savage beast on the
+face of the earth diminishes in an infinitely greater proportion, is a
+problem difficult to solve.
+
+Fourrier, in his "_Theorie Harmonique et comparative des especes_,"
+remarks truly, that each species of the human race corresponds with some
+species of the brute creation. The wolves in the forest represent the
+Jews in the towns; and he asserts, that it being possible only to
+compare the voracity of the one with the rapacity of the other, these
+two races, which are identical by reason of their several
+characteristics, will never perish, never become extinct, except
+together. But the Jews decline to acknowledge the relationship thus
+assumed and the paradoxical connexion between themselves and this race
+of animals; they deny that the idiosyncrasies are in any degree similar,
+and persist in placing this luminous idea of Fourrier's on a level with
+that of the sea of lemonade, which will, according to the same author,
+one day surround our planet.
+
+The bones and teeth of wolves are often discovered, as I have already
+said, amongst the _debris_ of the antediluvian world.
+
+In the Holy Scriptures, too, there are several observations respecting
+the wolf,--in them it is stated that he lives upon rapine, is violent,
+cruel, bloody, crafty, and voracious; he seeks his prey by night, and
+his sense of smell is wonderful. False teachers are described as wolves
+in sheep's clothing; and the Prophet Habakkuk, speaking of the
+Chaldeans, says, "Their horses are more fierce than the evening wolves."
+And again, Isaiah, describing the peaceful reign of the Messiah,
+writes,--"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
+shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the
+fatling together, and a little child shall lead them."
+
+The wolf varies in shape and colour, according to the country in which
+it lives. In Asia, towards Turkey, this animal is reddish; in Italy,
+quite red; in India, the one called the beriah is described as being of
+a light cinnamon colour; yellow wolves, with a short black mane along
+the entire spine, are found in the marshes of all the hot and temperate
+regions of America. The fur of the Mexican wolf is one of the richest
+and most valuable known. In the regions of the north the wolf is black,
+and sometimes black and gray: others are quite white; but the black wolf
+is always the fiercest. The black is also found in the south of Europe,
+and particularly in the Pyrennees. Colonel Hamilton Smith relates an
+anecdote illustrative of its great size and weight. At a _battue_ in the
+mountains near Madrid, one of these wolves, which came bounding through
+the high grass towards an English gentleman who was present, was so
+large that he mistook it for a donkey; and whatever visions of a ride
+home might have floated across his brain for the moment, right glad was
+he on discovering his error, to see his ball take immediate effect.
+
+In former days, the Spanish wolves congregated in large packs in the
+passes of the Pyrennees; and even now the _lobo_ will follow a string of
+mules, as soon as it becomes dusk, keeping parallel with them as they
+proceed, leaping from bush and rock, waiting his opportunity to select a
+victim. Black wolves also are found in the mountains of Friuli and
+Cattaro; the Vekvoturian wolf of Siberia, described by Pallas, is one of
+the darkest variety. In Persia and in India wolves are trained and made
+to play tricks and antics as monkeys and dogs are in Europe. At Teheran,
+Bankok, and Arracan, a well-trained wolf that can dance a polka of the
+country, sing a national air, and preserve a grave face during five
+minutes, with a pair of spectacles on his nose, will fetch as much as
+500 dollars.
+
+"In China," remarks Colonel Smith, "wolves abound in the northern
+province of Shantung;" and Buffon, quoting from Adanson, asserts, that
+"there is a powerful species of the wolf in Bengal, which hunt in packs,
+in company with the lion." "One night," says Adanson, "a lion and a wolf
+entered the court of the house in which I slept, and unperceived,
+carried off my provisions; in the morning my hosts were quite satisfied,
+from the well-marked and well-known impressions of their feet in the
+sand, that the animals had come together to forage." Colonel Smith
+observes, that "the French wolves are generally browner and somewhat
+stronger than those of Germany, with an appearance far more wild and
+savage: the Russian are larger, and seem more bulky and formidable, from
+the great quantity of long coarse hair that cover them on the neck and
+cheeks."
+
+"The Swedish and Norwegian are," he says, "similar to the Russian; but
+appear deeper and heavier in the shoulder; they are also lighter in
+colour, and in winter become completely white. The Alpine wolves are
+yellowish, and smaller than the French. This is the type of wolf that is
+commonly found in the western countries of Europe; and it was, in all
+probability, this species that once infested the wild and extensive
+woodland districts of the British Islands; for that wolves were once
+exceedingly numerous in England, is as certain as that the bear formerly
+prowled in Wales and Scotland, and with the former was the terror of the
+inhabitants. How dangerous to them, and how very common they must have
+been, is evident from the necessity that existed in the reign of
+Athelstane, 925, for erecting on the public highway a refuge against
+their attacks. A retreat was built at Flixton, in Yorkshire, to protect
+travellers against these ravenous brutes. King John, in a grant quoted
+by Pennant, from Bishop Littleton's collection, mentions the wolf as one
+of the beasts of the chase that, despite the severe forest laws of the
+feudal system, the Devonshire men were permitted to kill. Even in the
+reign of the first Edward, they were still so numerous that he applied
+himself in earnest to their extirpation, and enlisting criminals into
+the service, commuted their punishment for a given number of wolves'
+tongues;--he also permitted the Welsh to redeem the tax he imposed upon
+them, by an annual tribute of 300 of these horrid animals."
+
+That Edward, however, failed in his attempt to extirpate them, is
+evident from a _mandamus_ of that monarch's successor, to all bailiffs
+and legal officers of the realm, to give aid and assistance to his
+faithful and well-beloved Peter Corbet, whom the King had appointed to
+take and destroy wolves (_lupos_) in all forests, parks, and other
+places in the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, and Salop,
+wherever they could be found. In Derbyshire, certain tenants of lands,
+at Wormhill, held them on condition that they should hunt the wolves
+that harboured in that county. The flocks of Scotland appear to have
+suffered a great deal from the ravages of wolves in 1577, and they were
+not finally rooted out of that portion of the island till about the year
+1686, when the hand of Sir Evan Cameron made the last of them bite the
+dust.
+
+Wolves were seen in Ireland as late as the year 1710, about which time
+the last presentment for killing them was found in the county of Cork.
+The Saxon name for the month of January, "wolf-moneth," in which dreary
+season the famished beasts became probably more desperate; and the term
+for an outlaw, "wolfshed," implying that he might be killed with as much
+impunity as a wolf, indicate how numerous wolves were in those times,
+and the terror and hatred they inspired. In every country the
+inhabitants have declared this ferocious brute the enemy of man; and in
+order, if possible, to annihilate him, have employed every device;--the
+result in England has been most satisfactory. The Esquimaux, that
+distant and half-frozen people, have their own peculiar way of trapping
+wolves; and it is somewhat singular that their ice wolf-trap, as
+described by Captain Lyon, resembles exactly, except in the material of
+which it is made, that of France, though it is very certain no Morvinian
+ever went so far as the Melville peninsula to take a hunting lesson from
+an Esquimaux. The very birds of prey, those flying thieves of the air,
+are used for wolf-hunting amongst some of the savage nations of the
+earth. The Kaissoks take them with the help of a large sort of hawk,
+called a _beskat_, which is trained to fly at and fasten on their heads,
+and tear their eyes out; and the Grand Khan of Tartary has eagles tamed
+and trained to the sport in the same way as we have our packs to hunt
+the roebuck and wild boar.
+
+In the sombre forests of the Nivernais and Burgundy, where wolves are
+still numerous, and where they occasion the farmers great loss by the
+destruction of their cattle, they are destroyed in every way imaginable.
+General _battues_ are held, and private hunting parties meet, a
+multitude of traps set, pits dug, the sportsman and the peasant lie in
+wait for them, and dogs and cats, well stuffed with deadly poison, are
+placed near their haunts in the thick underwood. Nevertheless, and in
+spite of all these crafty inventions and open war with them, the wolves
+scarcely diminish in number; they still present the same formidable
+phalanx, and seem determined to defy their destroyers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+     The _battues_ of May and December--The gathering of
+     sportsmen--Distribution in the forest--The _charivari_--The fatal
+     rush--Excitement of the moment--The volley--The day's triumph, and
+     the reward--The peasants returning--Hunting the wolf with
+     dogs--Cub-hunting--The drunken wolf.
+
+
+In the first days of May, that interesting epoch in which in the forest,
+the woods, and the plain, the majority of all animals are with young;
+and in the commencement of December, the period of storm and tempest and
+the heavy rains, which precede the great snows, two general _battues_
+take place in Le Morvan. To these all the tribe of sportsmen--the good,
+the bad, and the indifferent--are invited; in short, every one in the
+neighbourhood who loves excitement attends. Gentlemen, poachers, and
+_gens-d'armes_, young conscripts and old soldiers, doctors and
+schoolmasters, every one who is the fortunate possessor of a gun, a
+carbine, a pistol, a sabre, a bayonet, or any other weapon, presents
+himself at the rendezvous. Bands of peasants, also, armed with
+bludgeons, spears, broomsticks, cymbals, bells, frying-pans, sauce-pans,
+and fire-irons (it is impossible to make too much noise on the
+occasion), arrive from every point of the compass, and add their numbers
+to those already assembled. On the day agreed upon, therefore, and at
+the spot indicated, a small army is on foot, which, full of ardour and
+thirsting for the combat, brandish with shouts their various weapons and
+kitchen utensils, drink to the success of the enterprise, and wait with
+no little impatience the signal to place themselves in march, and attack
+the enemy. The commander of these assembled forces,--generally the head
+ranger of the forest,--having under his orders a battalion of sub
+_gardes-de-chasse_, directs their movements.
+
+This mode of taking the wolf is conducted with very great order and
+circumspection; everything is well arranged beforehand; the ravines and
+deep underwood, which the wolves are known to resort to, have been
+carefully ascertained; the number of guns and rifles necessary to
+surround this or that wood are told off, and the whole plan is so well
+prepared, the execution of it is so prompt, every one is so well aware
+of what he has to do, that in one day a large tract of country is
+carefully beaten.
+
+In these _battues_, those who have fire-arms form two sides of a
+triangle, and are placed with their backs to the wind, along the roads
+which border the wood the _traqueurs_ are about to beat. On no account
+ought they to fire to their rear, but always to the front; and in order
+to prevent, in this respect, misunderstanding and accident, the _garde_,
+whose duty it is to place each sportsman at his post, breaks a branch,
+or cuts a notch in the tree before him, in order that in a moment of
+hesitation and excitement this broken bough or barked spot may remind
+him of his real position. The base of the triangle or the cord of the
+arc (for this curved line had more the shape of a great bow slightly
+strung than any other geometrical figure) is formed of the peasants,
+who, side by side, wait only for the last signal to advance, when they
+commence their euphonious concert--a _charivari_ not to be described.
+
+The arrangements and preparations, conducted in profound silence, being
+terminated, the signal is given, when the tumult, which at once breaks
+forth, produces intense excitement. The forest, hitherto silent, and
+apparently without life, is suddenly awakened with confused noises,
+metallic and human--the peasants shout, halloo, sing, and bang together
+their pots, kettles, and pieces of iron, striking every bush and thicket
+with their staves, and scaring every animal before them. Flights of
+wood-pigeons, coveys of partridges, birds of every size, species, and
+plumage, pass like moving shadows above their heads. The owls, too,
+suddenly aroused from sleep, leave their dark holes, and, blinded by the
+light, fly against the branches in their alarm with cries of
+terror--probably imagining the order of night and day is reversed, and
+that the unusual and unearthly noises proclaim that the end of the world
+has arrived for the owls. Then come the roebuck and the foxes, bounding
+and breaking through the underwood, and the hares and rabbits, which
+jump up under the feet of the beaters.
+
+Motionless as a mile-stone at your post, and rifle ready, this flying
+legion of animals gives you a twinge of impatience, for you must allow
+them a free passage, as in these _battues_ one dare not fire at
+anything, save and except the great object of the day, the wolf. Wolves
+alone have the honour on these important occasions of receiving the
+contents of your double-barrel. But the cowards, divining what is in
+preparation for them, are the last to show themselves; as the line
+advances, they trot up and down the portion of the wood thus enclosed,
+seeking for an outlet, or some break in the line; and they never make up
+their minds to advance to the front until the tempest of sounds behind
+them is almost ringing in their ears. But now the thunder of voices,
+till then distant, approaches, and the cries and hallooing of the
+peasants, like a flowing tide, forces them to draw nearer to the
+huntsmen.
+
+Whether or no, that fatal line must now be passed, and the few minutes
+that precede the last movement of the wolves towards it brings to every
+sportsman sensations impossible to describe. He knows the brutes are in
+his rear, approaching, and a feeling like an electric current runs at
+this exciting moment from one to the other; every man's finger is on his
+trigger, his pulse throbs at a feverish pace, his heart beats like the
+clapper of a bell in full swing--all, to take a surer aim, kneel, or
+place their back against the nearest tree, and each offers up a prayer
+for aid to his patron saint. This nervous moment has sometimes such an
+effect upon ardent and excitable imaginations, that I have observed many
+young sportsmen look very queer, some actually tremble and one shed
+tears. But the _traqueurs_ are at hand, and the largest and boldest of
+the wolves, placing themselves in front, are preparing for the fatal
+rush--one more _charivari_ from the peasants and their sauce-pans
+decides them, when the whole troop bound forward, yelling and howling
+upon the line, in passing which a storm of balls and buck-shot salute
+and assail them in their course.
+
+The death of from thirty to forty wolves is generally the result of the
+day's exertions, without counting the wounded, which always escape in
+greater or less numbers. The Government give a reward of twenty francs
+for every wolf, and twenty-five for every she-wolf, and these sums being
+immediately divided amongst the peasants, they return to their homes not
+a little pleased, singing their old hunting ballads, stopping
+occasionally by the way at some village inn for a glass, where they may
+be seen cutting capers, with the true peasant notions of the dance. On a
+fine day, with the blue sky above, the forest breathing perfume, and the
+sun shedding over it its golden rays, the passing game, the distant
+halloo! of the _traqueurs_, the gun-shots which suddenly rattle around
+you, the watching for and first view of the wolves, put the head and the
+heart in such a state of excitement, as once felt can never be
+forgotten. The May and December _battues_ are, therefore, looked forward
+to with immense impatience; and nothing short of sudden death, or an
+injured limb, prevents the country-people from hastening with alacrity
+to the rendezvous.
+
+Wolves are likewise hunted all the year round, with dogs, by gentlemen,
+in the neighbourhood of the forest. But this sport is very fatiguing and
+weary work, if that animal alone is employed; for nothing is so
+difficult as to get up with a cunning old wolf, whose sinewy limbs never
+tire, and whose wind never fails--who goes straight ahead, ten or
+fifteen miles, without looking behind him; if he meets with a _Mare_, or
+stream of water on his road, then your chance is indeed up,--for into it
+he plunges, and makes off again, quite as fresh as he was when he left
+his lair.
+
+The best and most expeditious mode of taking a wolf is, to set a
+bloodhound on him, bred expressly for this particular sport; large
+greyhounds being placed in ambush, at proper distances, and slipped,
+when the wolf makes his appearance in crossing from one wood to another.
+These dogs, by their superior swiftness, are soon at his haunches, and
+worry and impede his flight, until their heavy friend the hound comes
+up; for the strongest greyhound could never manage a wolf, unless he was
+assisted in his meritorious work by dogs of large size and superior
+strength. The huntsmen, well mounted, follow and halloo on the hounds;
+every one runs, every one shouts, the forest echoes their cries, and
+wolf, dogs, and sportsmen pass and disappear like leaves in a whirlwind,
+or the demon hounds and huntsmen of the Hartz. And now the panting
+beast, with hair on end and foaming at the mouth, bitten in every part,
+is brought to bay--his hour is come--no longer able to fly, he sets his
+back against some rock or tree, and faces his numerous enemies.
+
+It is then that the oldest huntsman of the party, in order to shorten
+his death-agony, and save the dogs from unnecessary wounds, dismounts,
+and, drawing a pistol from his hunting-belt, finishes his career before
+further mischief is done. When a ball hits a wolf and breaks one of his
+bones, he immediately gives a yell; but if he is dispatched with sticks
+and bludgeons, he makes no complaint. Stubborn, and apparently either
+insensible or resolute, Nature seems to have given him great powers of
+endurance in suffering pain. Having lost all hope of escape, he ceases
+to cry and complain; he remains on the defensive, bites in silence, and
+dies as he has lived. In a sheepfold the noise of his teeth while
+indulging his appetite is like the repeated crack of a whip. His bite is
+terrible.
+
+The months of September and October, the period for cub-hunting, afford
+capital sport. The young wolves are not like the old ones, strong enough
+to take a straight course, and they consequently can rarely do more than
+run a ring; when tired, which is soon the case, they retire backwards
+into some hole or under a large stone, where they show their teeth and
+await, with a juvenile courage worthy of a better fate, the onset of
+their assailants. The mode of separating the cubs from their mother,
+who, with maternal tenderness (for that feeling exists even in a wolf),
+always offers to sacrifice her life for her young, is by turning loose
+two or three bloodhounds. These first distract her attention, and then
+pursue her so closely that at last she thinks it prudent to decamp, and
+seek safety in flight; when these dogs have fairly got her away, and
+their deep music dies away in the distance, others are laid on the scent
+of the cubs, and the sport ceases only with the death of the litter. A
+young wolf may be tamed; but it is not wise to place much confidence in
+his civilization: with age he resumes his nature, becomes ferocious, and
+sooner or later, should the occasion present itself, will return to his
+native woods;--for as water always flows towards the river, so the wolf
+always returns to his kind.
+
+In the summer, the wolves, like the gypsies, have no fixed residence;
+they may then be met with in the standing barley or oats, the vineyards
+and fields; they sleep in the open country, and seldom seek the friendly
+shelter of the forest, except during the most scorching hours of the
+day. Towards the end of August I have often met them in the vineyards,
+apparently half drunk, scarcely able to walk, in short, quite unsteady
+on their legs, almost ploughing the ground up with their noses, and
+staring stupidly about them. Every well-kept vineyard ought to be as
+free from stones as possible, and therefore the peasants, when they
+weed, dig a trench about the vines, or prune them, always remove at the
+same time whatever stones or flints they may meet with; these are piled
+at the end of the vineyard in a heap of about twenty feet square and six
+feet high, called a _meurger_.
+
+On these _meurgers_ the breezes of summer waft every description of
+seed, and they are consequently soon covered with verdure, shrubs,
+brambles, and wild roses, which from a distance give them the appearance
+of a small copse or thicket. These elevated and shady spots are the
+favourite retreats of game in the middle of the day; here they love to
+repose and take their _siesta_ in the cool--here the red partridges meet
+to have a gossip--hither the young rabbits scuttle to recover their
+various alarms, and the trembling hare also squats and conceals herself
+the moment a dog or a gun appears in the adjoining vineyard. Of course
+these green mounds have a corresponding value in the eyes of the
+sportsmen, who always find in them something to put up.
+
+Often, therefore, walking gently on the soft ground, have I stolen to
+one of these _meurgers_, and throwing in a stone, generally turned out
+some partridges and rabbits that were there quietly ensconced; I have
+also, and greatly to my surprise, heard there the growl of a wolf,
+which, rising lazily amongst the bushes, stumbled and fell, and was
+evidently incapable of getting further. A salute from both barrels, with
+small shot, scarcely tickled his skin; but it brought him once more on
+his legs, though only to fall again,--when, having reloaded, I advanced
+on him and administered a double dose in his ear, which had the desired
+effect. The fact was, he was quite drunk, though not disorderly.
+
+These wolves, during the ardent heats of August, suffer dreadfully from
+thirst; and finding no water, take to the vineyards, and endeavour to
+assuage it by eating large quantities of grapes, very cool, and no doubt
+very delightful at the time; but the treacherous juice ferments,
+Bacchanalian fumes soon infect their brain, and for several hours these
+gentlemen are for a time entirely deprived of their senses. What a field
+for Father Mathew; but never, I am certain, has the worthy Apostle of
+Temperance ever dreamed of offering the pledge to the wolves of Le
+Morvan--the rub would be to hang the medal round the necks of these
+Bacchanals of the forest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+     Wolf-hunting, an expensive amusement--The _Traquenard_--Mode of
+     setting this trap--A night in the forest with Navarre--The young
+     lover--Dreadful accident that befell him--His courage and efforts
+     to escape--The fatal catastrophe--The poor mad mother.
+
+
+Wolf-hunting in the forests is an expensive amusement, whether they are
+killed by the method I have described,--namely, of employing beaters,
+and shooting them when breaking through the line of sportsmen, or
+running them down with dogs. The peasants and _traqueurs_ have to be
+paid, in the first case; hunters and hounds have to be purchased and
+maintained, in the second, without counting the innumerable incidental
+expenses which a kennel of hounds always brings in its train. This kind
+of establishment is too extravagant for our country-gentlemen, and thus
+it is that for one wolf killed in the great meetings, or with the dogs,
+thirty are taken in pits and snares, or by some species of stratagem.
+
+Every small farmer or large proprietor, to protect his family and his
+cattle,--every shepherd, to protect himself and his flock, invokes to
+his aid the genius of strategy; and as the mind of man is a sponge full
+of expedients, from which once pressed by the hard fingers of necessity
+many an ingenious device is extracted, innumerable are the various
+seductive baits that in our plains and forests are placed in the way of
+the gluttonous appetite of the wolf; and I shall now describe the
+inventions that are more generally adopted.
+
+The favourite trap employed in Le Morvan is the _Traquenard_. This is
+the most dangerous, and the strongest that is made, requiring two men to
+set it; it has springs of great power, which once touched, the jaws of
+the trap close with tremendous force. Each jaw, formed of a circle of
+iron, four or five feet in circumference, is furnished along its whole
+length with teeth shaped like those of a saw, but less sharp, which shut
+one within the other. To these redoubtable engines of destruction is
+attached an iron chain, six feet in length, and at the other end of it
+is a bar of iron with hooks; these hooks or grapnel, which catch at
+everything that comes in their way, impede the escape of the wolf when
+once seized, and prevent him from going any great distance from the spot
+where he has been caught. The trap should not be tied or fixed in any
+way, for then the wolf would probably in his first bound, his first
+frantic movement of terror, either break some part of it, or in his
+violent endeavours to escape, succeed, only leaving a leg behind him.
+
+In placing the trap and chain, a little earth is taken away, so that
+both are on a level with the turf; after which, the jaws being opened,
+they are covered with leaves in as natural a manner as possible. Great
+care must be taken by the person who sets the trap that he does not
+touch it with his naked hand; this should invariably be done with a
+glove on, otherwise the wolf--always extremely difficult to catch by
+reason of his delicate sense of smell--would be awakened to his danger.
+The mode of taking the wolf by means of the _Traquenard_, is as
+follows:--A spot having been selected in the depths of the forest, and
+in a sombre pathway unfrequented by the beasts of prey, the trap is set
+about an hour before the sun goes down, and a dog, young pig, a sheep,
+or some other animal which has been dead a few days, is divided into
+five parts; one of the portions is suspended to the lower branch of the
+tree, under which the trap is set; and the other four, being each
+attached to a withe or the band of a faggot,--not rope, for in that the
+wolf detects the hand of man, and he hates the smell of the
+material,--are drawn by men along the ground in the direction of the
+four points of the compass. These men are mounted either on horseback,
+or on an ass, or they put on a pair of _sabots_ and walk, each of them
+dragging after him, through the wood and along the unfrequented paths,
+his portion of the bait, stopping every now and then to let the soil
+over which it passes be as much as possible impregnated with the smell
+of the flesh on the verge of corruption.
+
+The _traineur_ should always walk as much as possible through those
+parts of the forest that are the clearest of underwood, for in these
+spots the wolf is least on his guard; and when he has thus traversed
+from 2,500 to 3,000 paces--the distance required in order to give the
+animal, (who will at first follow his track with caution and even
+suspicion,) time to regain his confidence--he stops, throws the bait
+over his shoulder, and walks home, leaving the result to chance, and the
+hunger of the savage game. When four or five other traps have been set
+for the same night, in a radius of three or four miles thus prepared, it
+rarely happens that some of these various lines--which intersect each
+other on every side and in every direction, taking in a considerable
+surface of ground--are not hit upon during the night by the roving
+wolves: and be sure that each wolf whose olfactories discern the scented
+line, and who at length arrives at the trap, is a wolf taken.
+
+Well do I remember the fever of impatience with which I was seized, the
+first time I was present at the preparations for this sport, and the
+desire I had to know what would be the result of our machinations; so
+much so, indeed, that the arrangement being completed, I positively
+refused to return to the _chateau_;--climbing into a thick tree, distant
+about a hundred paces from the trap, I passed the whole night there on
+the watch, shivering in my jacket, sitting astride upon one branch, my
+feet on another, and Navarre at my side. Poor Navarre! he had in the
+beginning of the evening brought all his astronomical knowledge to bear
+upon me, with a view of proving that the night would be terribly
+unwholesome; that we should have a furious hurricane and be deluged with
+rain, blinded by the lightning, and terrified by the thunder; and that,
+in the way of eating and a cordial, the only thing he had in his
+game-bag was a sorry piece of black bread, hard enough to break the
+tooth of a boar. I had a stiff tustle with him before he gave in; but
+finding he could not damp the burning curiosity which devoured me, and
+that my ears were deaf to the somewhat rough music of his reasoning and
+his predictions, the worthy man at length closed the fountain of his
+eloquence, and, though growling and mumbling in an under tone at my
+juvenile obstinacy, which had deprived him of his bed and his supper,
+quietly took his seat in the tree; then drawing from the bottom of his
+pocket some tobacco and a short pipe--his consolation in his greatest
+misfortunes--he whiffed away, burying his irritated countenance in his
+breast by way of showing his vexation.
+
+It seems to me but yesterday these eight hours passed in the forest in
+the silence of that starlight night, hid in the branches, and waiting
+for the wolves! We caught three, and nine galloped under the very oak in
+which we were seated. This midnight scene was exciting beyond
+description; and the worthy Navarre, notwithstanding his pipe, his
+fox-skin cap, and his goat-skin riding-coat, caught such a melancholy
+cold, that he did nothing but sneeze and hoop the whole of the next day,
+making more noise than all the dogs and cattle in the farm put together.
+
+Wolf-hunting with traps has its dangers and its inconveniences, and the
+_Traquenard_ must be used with great caution. Every morning it should be
+visited and shut; otherwise a man, a horse, a dog, or some other animal,
+may fall into it, and be taken. In order, therefore, as much as possible
+to prevent accidents, our peasants, farmers, and poachers, when using
+this kind of trap, always tie stones, or little pieces of dead wood, to
+the bushes and branches of the trees near the spot in which it is set;
+they likewise place the same kind of signal at the extremity of the
+pathway which leads to the trap, as a warning to those who may walk that
+way; and the peasants, who know what these signals dancing in the air
+with every puff of wind mean, turn aside, and take very good care how
+they proceed on their road.
+
+In spite of all these precautions, however, very sad occurrences will
+sometimes happen in our forests. Some years ago a trap was placed in a
+deserted footway, and the usual precautions were taken of hanging stones
+and bits of wood in the approach to the path at either end. The same
+day, a young man of the neighbourhood, full of love and imprudence--upon
+the eve, in fact, of being entangled in the conjugal "I will"--anxious
+to present to his _fiancee_ some turtle-doves and pigeons with rosy
+beaks, with whose whereabouts he was acquainted, left his home a little
+before sunset to surprise the birds on their nest; but he was late, the
+night closed in rapidly, and with the intention of shortening the road,
+instead of following the beaten one he took his way across the forest.
+Without in the least heeding the brambles and bushes which caught his
+legs, or the ditches and streams he was obliged to cross, he pressed on;
+and after a continued and sanguinary battle with the thorns, the stumps,
+the roots, and the long wild roses, came exactly on the path where the
+trap was set. The night was now nearly dark, and, in his agitation and
+hurry, thinking only of his doves and the loved one, he failed to
+observe that several little pieces of string were swinging to and fro in
+the breeze from the branches of a thicket near him. Dreadful indeed was
+it for him that he did not; for suddenly he felt a terrible shock,
+accompanied by most intense pain, the bones of his leg being apparently
+crushed to pieces--he was caught in the wolf-trap!
+
+The first few moments of pain and suffering over, comprehending at once
+the danger of his position, he with great presence of mind collected all
+the strength he had, and by a determined effort endeavoured to open the
+serrated iron jaws which held him fast: but though despair is said to
+double the strength of a man, the trap refused to give up its prey; and
+as at the least movement the iron teeth buried themselves deeper and
+deeper with agonizing pain into his leg, and grated nearly on the bone,
+his sufferings became so intense that in a very few minutes he ceased
+from making any further attempts to release himself. Feeling this to be
+the case, he began to shout for help, but no one replied; and as the
+night drew in he was silent, fearing that his cries would attract the
+notice of some of the wolves that might be prowling in the
+neighbourhood, and resolved to wait patiently and with fortitude what
+fate willed--what he could not avert. He had under his coat a little
+hatchet, a weapon which the Morvinians constantly carry about with them,
+and thus in the event of his being attacked by the dreaded animals, he
+trusted to it to defend himself; but he was still not without hope that
+the wolves would not make their appearance.
+
+The night lengthened; the moon rose, and shed her pale light over the
+forest. Immovable, with eyes and ears on the _qui vive_, his body in the
+most dreadful agony, he listened and waited: when, all at once,
+far--very far off, a confused murmur of indistinct sounds was heard.
+Approaching with rapidity, these murmurs became cries and yells; they
+were those of wolves--and not only wolves, but wolves on the track,
+which must ere a few minutes could elapse be upon him. A pang of horror,
+and a cold perspiration poured from his face;--but fear was not a part
+of his nature, and by almost superhuman efforts, and, in such an awful
+moment, forgetting all pain, he dragged himself and the trap towards an
+oak tree, against which he placed his back.
+
+Here leaning with his left hand upon a stout staff he had with him when
+he fell, and having in his right his hatchet ready to strike, the young
+man, full of courage, after having offered up a short prayer to his God,
+and embraced, as it were, in his mind his poor old mother and his bride,
+awaited the horrible result, determined to show himself a true child of
+the forest, and meet his fate like a man. A few minutes more, and he was
+as if surrounded by a cordon of yellow flames, which, like so many
+Will-o'-the-wisps, danced about in all directions. These were the eyes
+of the monsters; the animals themselves, which he could not see, sent
+forth their horrible yells full in his face, and the smell of their
+horrid carcases was borne to him on the wind. Alas! the _denouement_ of
+the tragedy approached. The wolves had hit upon the scented line of
+earth, and following it; hungry and enraged, were bounding here and
+there, and exciting each other. They had arrived at the baited spot....
+
+What passed after this no one can tell--no eye saw but His above: but on
+the following morning when the Pere Seguin, for he was the unfortunate
+person who set the _Traquenard_, came to examine it, he found the trap
+at the foot of the oak deluged with blood, the bone of a human leg
+upright between the iron teeth, and all around, scattered about the turf
+and the path, a quantity of human remains: bits of hair, bones,--red and
+moist, as if the flesh had been but recently torn from them,--shreds of
+a coat, and other articles of clothing were also discovered near the
+spot; with the assistance of some dogs that were put on the scent, three
+wolves, their heads and bodies cut open with a hatchet, were found dying
+in the adjacent thickets. The bones of their victim were carried to the
+nearest church; and on the following day these mournful fragments, which
+had only a few hours before been full of life and youth and health, were
+committed to the earth.
+
+When the venerated _cure_ of the village, after previously endeavouring
+in every possible way by Christian exhortation to prepare his aged
+mother to hear the sad tale, informed her that these remnants of
+humanity was all that was left of her boy, she laughed--alas! it was the
+laugh of madness--reason had fled! Many a time have I met the aged
+creature strolling in a glade of the forest, or seated basking in the
+sun outside the door of her cottage. Her complexion was of the yellow
+paleness of some old parchment, she was always laughing and
+singing--always rocking in her arms a log of wood, a hank of hemp, or
+bundle of fern--objects which to her poor crazy eyes represented her
+child;--her child as it was in its tender years: she called it by his
+name, she kissed, embraced and dandled it, rocked it on her knees; and
+when she thought it should be tired, sang those lullabies which had
+soothed the slumbers of him who was now no more. I have witnessed the
+horrors of war, I have heard many a tragic story, but never has my heart
+been more touched with feelings of profound grief than the day on which
+I first met this poor creature--this widowed mother, then seventy years
+of age--singing and walking in the forest, carrying and dandling in her
+shrivelled arms a shawl rolled up; kissing and talking to the silent
+bundle, smiling on it,--sitting at the foot of a tree, and opening that
+bosom in which the springs of life had for years been dried, to nurse
+and nourish once more what seemed to her still her baby boy.
+
+The morning after the dreadful catastrophe of which I have just spoken,
+the path in which this terrible tragedy took place was closed, and trees
+were planted along its length, so that no person could in future pass
+that way. But the Pere Seguin has often shown me the oak, at the foot of
+which during that fearful night the young peasant suffered such agonies,
+made such incredible efforts, and drew with such indomitable courage his
+last breath. This tree is still called by the peasants, "The Widow's
+Oak," or, "The Oak of the Wolves."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+     Shooting wolves in the summer--The most approved baits to attract
+     them--Fatal error--Hut-shooting--Silent joviality--The approach of
+     the wolves--The first volley--The retreat--The final slaughter--The
+     sportsman's reward--The farm-yard near St. Hibaut--The dead
+     colt--The onset--Scene in the morning--Horrible accident--The
+     gallant farmer--Death of the wolves, the dogs, and the peasant--The
+     wolf-skin drum--Anathema of the naturalists.
+
+
+When the sportsman does not absolutely care about sleeping in his own
+bed, and will not be denied the pleasure of shooting a wolf himself, a
+drag is run similar to those we have already mentioned, but other parts
+of the proceedings are conducted in a manner widely different. In the
+first place, there is no trap; then, instead of the piece of flesh, the
+great attraction, being put in an obscure and hidden path, it should, on
+the contrary, be placed in an open spot, on the border of a wood, in a
+glade, or in a field on the verge of the forest, in order that the
+sportsman who is laying in wait, in ambush, may be able to see what is
+passing; he must, too, conceal himself as much as possible, either in a
+thicket under the foliage, in a hut made with the boughs of trees, or
+in a hole dug in the ground; but he should always be so placed that he
+is against the wind, and if the moon is up he ought to take especial
+care that he is in the shade.
+
+But it sometimes happens that the sportsman, at a moment when there is
+no time to run a drag,--for instance, after dinner when smoking a cigar,
+he suddenly takes it into his head to kill a wolf, and it is too late to
+bait the spot; nevertheless the hunter will have nothing less than his
+wolf. Before leaving home, therefore, he orders his servant to bring him
+a duck; this he puts into his pocket, and shouldering his gun, seeks the
+depths of the forest alone. Having found a favourable spot,--a place
+where four roads meet is that, if possible, generally chosen,--he hangs
+the unfortunate duck by the leg to the branch of a neighbouring tree,
+which, as if divining the part that he is intended to play in the piece,
+flaps his wings, and begins to cry and quack most vehemently.
+
+Extraordinary as it may appear, it is well known that the cries of the
+duck and the goose are those most readily heard by a wolf, and
+consequently it is by no means a rare occurrence to see one of these
+animals arrive. An unweaned lamb, which is always bleating for its
+mother, is also an excellent decoy-bait to attract them.
+
+In the months of May and June, when the sportsman happens to tumble upon
+a she-wolf, the cubs of which are suckling, a drag may be run with one
+of them; the mother will for certain follow the track, and, if you are
+not properly on your guard, and well prepared to receive her, it is
+equally certain she will play you a very unpleasant trick, and make you
+feel that it is not wise to excite the maternal tenderness of a wild
+animal. But it is in winter that the wolves are more especially
+dangerous, and it is in this rough season that war to the knife is
+declared against them. The peasants, as well the wood-cutters and
+charcoal-burners of the forest, having then no employment, assemble in
+small bands, furnish themselves with provisions for several days, and
+armed with ponderous and clumsy fowling-pieces, go in search of the wild
+cat and the wolf, the roebuck and the boar.
+
+On these occasions, as in all those where fire-arms are used, the
+chapter of accidents is seldom without a page relating some sad history.
+Two young men of the village of Akin, near Vezelay, one of whom was
+engaged to the sister of his companion, having made their arrangements,
+set out to hunt together in this manner, trusting that a heavy bag might
+pay for the expenses of the wedding fete. As luck would have it, they
+soon fell upon the traces of a boar, and separating at the entrance of a
+dark ravine, to beat for and watch the animal, were lost to view. But a
+short time had elapsed when the young man who was about to be married
+observing, though not clearly, between the trees and bushes a large
+black mass, which moved to and fro, and which he imagined was the boar
+listening, brought his gun to his shoulder, and, firing, lodged two iron
+slugs in the body of his comrade, who, advancing towards him, his
+shoulders being covered with a black sheepskin, had stooped down for a
+few seconds to tie the strings of his leggings, or his shoes.
+
+When the trees are devoid of foliage and the snow covers the ground,
+when the forest is melancholy and cold, and the wolves famished with
+hunger, a rather original mode of taking them by night is adopted. A few
+days previously to the one appointed for the purpose, a large glade in
+the very thickest part of the forest having been selected, a carpenter
+and his assistant, with a well-furnished bag of tools, start for the
+spot. There, choosing some suitable trees, or branches of young
+pollards, they cut down a sufficient number, place them in the ground so
+as to form a hut of twelve yards square, leaving between each tree an
+interval of about four inches; strengthening the edifice by beams at the
+base, and boards nailed transversely seven feet from the ground.
+
+This open hut thus prepared, and which, at fifty paces distance, ought
+not, if well constructed, to be distinguishable from the trees, is left
+open to the inspection of the beasts of the forest for several nights in
+succession, in order that they, always suspicious of the most trifling
+circumstance, may get accustomed to it. Two or three ducks, a goose, and
+sometimes a sheep, are fastened during these nights near the hut, with a
+view of alluring the wolves and inducing them to visit the mansion.
+
+The day, or rather the appointed evening, having arrived (a star or
+moonlight night being selected), the assembled huntsmen, and a long line
+of servants, betake themselves to the forest, leading by the head four
+calves, and carrying with them a cask of cold meat, a hamper of wine, a
+box of cigars, and a horse-load of pale _cogniac_--a few camels and
+dromedaries added to this cavalcade, and one would have a complete
+picture of a tribe of Bedouins preparing to pass the Great Desert.
+Arrived in the forest about nightfall, and well and duly shut up in
+their Gibraltar of wood, the sportsmen may eat, drink, and smoke, and
+converse in an undertone; but a heavy fine is invariably inflicted on
+those who make the least noise. No one is permitted to sneeze, talk
+loud, or laugh; as to blowing one's nasal organ vigorously, the thing is
+absolutely forbidden; no one is allowed to have a cold, much less an
+influenza, for at least eight hours, and every sportsman is careful that
+the wine and the viands take each their proper line of road; if either
+should unfortunately diverge, the gentleman must choke rather than
+cough--as to the servants, they do every thing by gesture and signal;
+and woe betide the John that speaks--chance may be, his tongue is thrown
+to the wolves.
+
+When night has set in, the four calves are led out from the stockade and
+fastened to strong posts which have been fixed in front of each face of
+the hut. Silence now reigns supreme, and the wolves,--the spur of famine
+in their insides, mad in short with hunger,--begin to sniff the breeze
+and run their noses over the rank dewy grass of the underwood. At this
+point of my narrative I must bespeak the forbearance of the Society for
+the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and beg them to read on to the
+end, and weigh well the question and the result, before they bring an
+action against me for what follows. The calves in question having been
+placed, they each--must I write it?--receive an incision in the neck,
+the effect of which is that the blood flows slowly, and they bleat
+without ceasing;--such is the custom, as it is said, with butchers to
+make veal white and pleasing to the eye of the epicure; a really inhuman
+habit--but when the deed is done with a view to the extermination of
+wolves, I think there is little doubt but Mr. Martin himself would have
+used a fleam in the cause.
+
+This operation over, the sportsmen divide, post themselves, with their
+guns ready, on each side of the hut, and wait with beating hearts the
+arrival of the expected four-footed visitors. Nine o'clock passes--ten,
+half-past--not a sound is heard in the forest; the sportsmen who look
+out on the snowy scene around them observe nothing; all without is
+dreary silence, broken at intervals by the poor ruminating creatures in
+front, the cry of a solitary owl, the fall of some dead branch which age
+and the tempest has separated from the giant oak, the sudden spring of
+the squirrel awakened by the noise, and, in the interior of the cabin,
+by the soft gurgling of the ruby wine escaping joyfully from its glass
+prison-house, to cheer the heart of the impatient _chasseur_--and who
+knows better than he how to empty a flask of genuine Burgundy?
+
+We will, therefore, imagine some of the party enjoying themselves after
+this fashion; when suddenly the calves are heard to rise, to bellow and
+groan, strain at the ropes with which they are fastened, and endeavour
+to escape; every cigar is at once extinguished, the comic changes to the
+serious--the wolves are on the scent. A few minutes more, and black
+spots are seen dotted about here and there on the snow; these increase
+in number and approach,--they are the wolves that observe and listen;
+the frantic terror of the calves is redoubled; the black spots become
+larger, they advance still nearer, and at length the animals may clearly
+be distinguished. The wolves imagine the calves have come astray. What a
+charming thing if they could carry them off to the dark ravines they
+inhabit! The great square hut, silent as Harpocrates, and the smell of
+man, make them hesitate; but a hunger of many days (and we know that
+man, the image of his Maker, will eat man, his fellow, in his
+extremity) and the smell of blood prevail and overcome their fears. Four
+or five wolves rush forward, and endeavour to remove the calves; the
+attempt is vain, the ropes are strong, and so are the posts to which the
+animals are fastened: unable, therefore, to succeed, and stretched
+across their dying victims, they plunge their ravenous jaws into the
+palpitating flesh, forget their alarm in so delicious a supper, and eat
+and drink to their heart's content. The rest of the pack thus
+encouraged, and afraid of being too late, now advance at a gallop to
+share in the repast.
+
+It is then, and amid the yells, the disputes, and the bloody encounters
+occasioned by a division of the spoil, that the sportsmen open their
+fire. The first volley puts the wolves to flight, and they retire to a
+short distance. But again all is silent, they soon return to the
+carcases they cannot make up their minds to desert; other wolves also,
+that have been in the rear, attracted by the cries and smell of their
+wounded companions, and the blood of the calves, arrive and take part in
+the strife, so that during several hours the forest echoes with repeated
+volleys. At length the calves are fairly eaten up, when the fortunate
+survivors of the fray, gorged and satiated, take to flight, and
+disappear like a band of black demons into the recesses of the forest.
+It is then the sportsmen leave their hut, stretch their limbs, count the
+dead, dispatch their wounded enemies, and, clothed in thick fur cloaks,
+sit as if at the bivouac round a large fire, passing the remaining hours
+of the night in emptying more bottles, excavating more pies, drinking
+more punch, and telling better stories than those which I have had the
+pleasure of laying before the reader.
+
+The morning has scarcely dawned and the party is on the road home, when
+a crowd of peasants arrive with their dogs, who, following the bloody
+traces of the wolves in the snow, dispatch those which, though wounded,
+have been able to leave the spot--for the sight of a dead wolf is to a
+Morvinian as delightful as the possession of one is profitable. Having
+killed his ferocious enemy, the peasant cuts off his head and his four
+feet, which he fastens crosswise at the end of his staff; then arraying
+himself in his best and most showy clothes, his hat ornamented with
+flowers and ribbons streaming in the breeze, like those in the cap of an
+English recruit, he is off, the left foot foremost, to the mayor of his
+parish to receive the reward offered by the government. But his road to
+his worship is anything but direct; he performs what he terms the grand
+tour, visits every village in his way, makes his bow to the women, calls
+at the sheep-farms and the _chateaux_, showing, with no little pride and
+exultation, his wolf's head, and receives at each some acknowledgment
+for the service he has rendered the community,--money, a dozen of eggs,
+a pound of lard, a bit of pork, bread, flour, flax, or salt, &c. He who
+kills the wolf, and carries the spoils as a trophy in this manner, is
+accompanied by the musician of the neighbourhood, who marches before him
+blowing his bagpipe with the force of an ox; behind him is one of the
+strongest men of the village, with a large bag on each shoulder, who
+carries the presents, and imitates the cry and yells of a wolf when the
+piper is tired. It will not therefore be considered astonishing if it is
+always with renewed pleasure that a peasant of Le Morvan kills a wolf;
+and though one becomes tired, _blaze_ with almost everything in this
+mortal world, it is not the case when a gallant fellow is seen entering
+a village carrying the head of this hideous monster on his pole. This
+trophy, with tongue distended and mouth kept wide open by a piece of
+wood to show his long yellow teeth, frightens all the little children
+that see it.
+
+There are many other methods of taking the wolf, with a hook, a net,
+with tame she-wolves _a la loge_, the poacher's method, in pits, and in
+a washing-tub by the side of a pond, &c. But a description of these
+several modes would occupy too much space. I cannot, however, before
+taking a final leave of this subject, resist the temptation to relate
+one last and most fearful incident--a frightful illustration of the
+horrors to which a country infested by this animal is liable. It
+happened during my sojourn at St. Hibaut, at a farm in that
+neighbourhood.
+
+It was in the month of February, the winter was exceedingly severe, and
+three feet of snow still covered the mountains; all communication
+between the villages had ceased, and bands of hungry wolves besieged the
+farms in the heart of the woods.
+
+The forest of La Madeleine, particularly full of ravines and dark
+thickets, small hamlets, and solitary houses, was overrun with these
+insatiable and remorseless brutes. Travellers had been devoured in the
+passes of La Goulotte, and mangled and torn in the ravines of Lingou. No
+one dared venture into the country when night approached.
+
+The farm of which I am about to speak stands just on the borders of the
+forest of La Madeleine, in the midst of pastures and patches of furze;
+it was full of cattle and sheep, and by the time the stars were
+brilliantly illuminating the dark arch of heaven, was frequently
+surrounded by troops of wolves, scratching under the walls, and loudly
+demanding the trifling alms of a horse, an ox, or a man. It so happened
+that at this time one of the farmer's colts died, and he determined, if
+possible, to use it as a bait, which would provide him the opportunity
+of destroying some of his nocturnal visitors.
+
+For this purpose he placed the dead body in the middle of his
+court-yard, and having fastened weights to its neck and legs, to prevent
+the wolves from dragging it away, he set the principal gate open, but so
+arranged with cords and pulleys that it could be closed at any required
+moment. Night came on; the house was shut up, the candles extinguished,
+the stables barricaded, the dogs brought in-doors and muzzled to prevent
+them from barking, and, in the bright starlight, on some clean straw,
+the better to attract attention, lay the dead body of the colt--the
+gate, as we have said, being open. All was ready, all within on the
+watch, when about ten o'clock the wolves were heard in the distance;
+they approached, smelt, looked, listened, grumbled, and distrusting the
+open gate, paused; not one would enter. Profound was the silence and
+excitement in the house. Hunger at last overcame prudence and mistrust.
+Their savage cries were renewed; they became more and more impatient and
+exasperated,--how was it possible to resist a piece of young horseflesh?
+The most forward, probably the captain of the band, could hold out no
+longer, and to show his fellows he was worthy to be their leader, he
+advanced alone, passed the Rubicon, went up to the colt, tore away a
+large piece of his chest, and, proud of his achievement, set off at
+speed with his booty between his teeth. The other wolves, seeing him
+escape in safety, regained their confidence, and one, two, three, six,
+eight wolves were soon gathered round the animal, but, though eating as
+fast as they could, they remained with ears erect, and each eye still on
+the gate.
+
+Eight wolves! The farmer thought it a respectable number, and whistled,
+when the four men at the ropes hauling instantly, the large
+folding-gates rolled to, and closed in the stillness with the noise of
+thunder,--the wolves were prisoners. Startled and terrified at finding
+themselves caught, they at once deserted the small remains of the colt,
+creeping about in all directions in search of some outlet by which they
+might escape, or some hole to hide in, while the farmer, having secured
+them, sent his household to bed, putting off their destruction till
+sunrise.
+
+The morning dawned, and with the first rays of light master and men, for
+whom the event was a perfect _fete_, set some ladders against the walls
+of the court, and from them, as well as the windows, fired volleys on
+the entrapped wolves. Unable to resist, the animals for some time
+hurried hither and thither, crouching in every nook and corner of the
+yard: but the wounds from balls which reached them behind the stones, or
+under the carts, soon turned their fear into rage. They began to make
+alarming leaps, and the most dreadful yells. The work of destruction
+went on but slowly;--the men were but indifferent shots, the wolves
+never an instant at rest;--and the rapidity and perseverance with which
+they continued to gallop round, or leap from side to side of the yard,
+as if in a cage, essentially baffled the endeavours of their enemies.
+
+The affair was in this way becoming tedious, when an unlooked-for
+misfortune threw a dreadful gloom over the whole scene.
+
+The ladder used by one of the party being too short, the young man
+placed himself on the wall, as if in a saddle, to have a better
+opportunity of taking aim; when one of the wolves, the largest,
+strongest, and most exasperated, suddenly bounded at the wall, as if to
+clear it, but failed; subsequently the animal attempted to climb up by
+means of the unhewn stones, like a cat, and though he again failed,
+reached high enough almost to seize with his sharp teeth the foot of the
+unfortunate lad. Terrified at this he raised his leg to avoid the
+brute--lost his balance--and the same moment fell with a heart-rending
+scream into the court below. Each and all the wolves turned like
+lightning on their helpless, hopeless victim, and a cry of horror was
+heard on every side.
+
+The storm of leaden hail ceased: no man dared fire again, and yet
+something must be done, for the monsters were devouring their unhappy
+fellow-servant. Listening only to the dictates of courage and humanity,
+the noble-hearted farmer, gun in hand, leaped at once into the yard, and
+his men all followed his heroic example. A general and frightful
+conflict ensued. The scene which then took place defies every attempt at
+description. No pen could adequately place before the reader the awful
+incidents that succeeded. He must, if he can, imagine the howling of the
+wolves, the piteous cries of the lacerated and dying youth, the
+imprecations of the men, the neighing of the horses and roaring of the
+bulls in the stables; and, more than all, the crying and lamentations of
+the women and children in the house--a fearful chorus--such as happily
+few, very few persons were ever doomed to hear. At last the farmer's
+wife, a powerful and resolute woman, with great presence of mind
+unmuzzled the dogs, and threw them from a window into the yard. This
+most useful reinforcement with their vigorous attacks and loud barking
+completed the tumult and the tragedy. In twenty minutes the eight wolves
+were dead, and with them half the faithful dogs. The poor unfortunate
+lad, his throat torn open, was dead; his courageous, though unsuccessful
+defenders, were all more or less wounded, and the gallant farmer's left
+hand so injured, that as soon as surgical assistance could be procured
+for him, amputation was found to be necessary.
+
+The monsters, stretched side by side in the yard, were also stone dead,
+every one of them; but not a voice on the farm raised the heart-stirring
+shout of victory. Consternation and gloom reigned over it, and it was
+long indeed ere the voice of mourning deserted its walls.
+
+The skin of the wolf is strong and durable; the woodmen, _braconniers_,
+and mountaineers, make cloaks and caps of it, the tail being left on the
+latter to fall over the ear by way of ornament; they likewise cover with
+it the outside of their game-bags. They tan it also, and excellent shoes
+are made of the leather, soft and light for summer wear,--it is likewise
+made into parchment, not to write the history of their ancestors upon,
+but to cover small drums, the rattle of which, on fairdays and _fetes_
+is sure to set the peasants dancing. This fact is alluded to in a song
+of our province, written by a shepherd-poet, in the pleasing dialect of
+Le Morvan, of which the following is a free translation:
+
+  Hark! 'tis the wolf-skin drum,
+                    We come! We come!
+      Yes, come with me sweet girl, and fair
+      As rosebud wild that scents the air.
+  The heavens are bright, the stars are shining,
+  Thy lovely form my arms entwining;
+      Together let us lead the dance
+      Deep in thy sylvan haunts, dear France!
+  Hark! I hear those sounds again,
+  The wolf-skin drum, the pipers' strain.
+
+Wealthy persons use a wolf-skin for a carriage-rug, and in the rainy
+season as a mat at the door of a room. "There is nothing good in the
+wolf," says Buffon, "he has a base low look--a savage aspect, a terrible
+voice, an insupportable smell, a nature brutal and ferocious, and a body
+so foul and unclean that no animal or reptile will touch his flesh. It
+is only a wolf that can eat a wolf." "No animal," writes Cuvier, "so
+richly merits destruction as the wolf." With these two funeral orations
+on these incarnate fiends of Natural History, I shall close this
+chapter, remarking that the anathema bestowed on them by Buffon is not
+quite correct, for if wolves are dangerous, and enemies to the public
+weal, and "there is nothing good" in them during their lives, they, at
+least, become useful after their death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+     Fishing in Le Morvan--The naturalists--The _Gour_ of Akin--The
+     English lady--The mountain streams--Chateau de
+     Chatelux--Sermiselle--New mode of killing pike--Pierre Pertuis--The
+     rocks and whirlpool there--The syrens of the grotto--Chateau des
+     Panolas--The Cousin--The ponds of Marot and lakes of Lomervo--Mode
+     of taking fish with live trimmers--The Scotch farmer.
+
+
+Having disposed of the quadrupeds of Le Morvan, I must enlarge a little
+upon the finny tribe of my native province, who would, I feel sure, be
+not a little annoyed if after having mentioned nearly every other
+creature capable of affording amusement to the sportsman I were to pass
+them over in silence. Besides, the shade of Izaak Walton would haunt me,
+and his disciples no doubt wish me well hooked, if I omitted to give
+them a chapter on angling,--but it shall be short, and I will avoid all
+scientific discussion. Theories sufficient have been hazarded, and books
+written without number from the days of old Aristotle, who arranged them
+in three great divisions, the Cetaceous, the Cartilaginous, and the
+Spinous; down to Gmelin, who divided them into six orders, the Apodal,
+the Jugular, the Thoracic, the Abdominal, the Branchiostagous, and the
+Chondropterygious.
+
+How men, learned and scientific men, can be so barbarous as to invent
+such grotesque names as these is surprizing, or why Apicius should be
+remembered for having been the first to teach mankind how to suffocate
+fish in Carthaginian pickle; or Quin, for having discovered a sauce for
+John Dories; or Mrs. Glasse, for an eel pie; or M. Soyer, celebrated for
+depriving barbel of their sight, in order to make them grow fatter, and
+be more acceptable to the epicure. Into this wilderness of discoveries,
+I have no intention of introducing you, gentle reader. The wisest plan
+is to cook and eat your fish in the ordinary mode--fry, broil, bake,
+boil, or grill; and call a perch, a perch, not a thoracic; a pike, a
+pike, &c., and pay little attention either to cooks or naturalists.
+
+Le Morvan, intersected by numerous rivers, streams, and runs of water,
+in the liquid depths of which the various species of the fresh-water
+fishy-family are found from the powerful, swift, and travelled salmon,
+to the modest little gudgeon that stays quietly at home, is a country
+where the angler may live in a state of perpetual jubilee; the carp, the
+eel, and the pike attain an enormous size, particularly near the dams
+and flood-gates, where the depth of water is great, and in the _Gours_
+or water-courses which, diverging at several points on the stream, are
+constructed for supplying the flour and paper-mills with water.
+
+The punters of Richmond, Hampton Court, and Chertsey, with their
+magnificent tackle, gentles, ground-bait, and comfortable chair, &c.,
+would be astonished to see the quantities of fish that are taken in one
+of these _Gours_ by a half-naked peasant, with a line as thick as
+packthread, during a sultry tempestuous evening in the month of June;
+from thirty to forty pounds' weight of carp and eels is by no means an
+unusual take,--Apodal and Abdominal, as the learned Gmelin would say.
+
+These _Gours_ are perfect jewels in the eyes of our fishermen; on very
+great occasions, for instance, when the miller marries, or an infant
+miller makes his appearance, if the occurrence should happen during the
+summer season, the flood-gates of the _Gours_ are opened, when the
+waters being let off to within a few inches of the bottom, the quantity
+of fish taken with the casting-net is enormous. In the large _Gour_ of
+Akin, the longest, the deepest, and containing more fish than any on the
+Cure or the Cousin, which I mention as representing the ten or twelve
+second-rate rivers of Le Morvan, I have seen as much as four horse-loads
+of fish taken, though every fish under two pounds was thrown back. The
+average depth of water in these rivers is from three to four feet,
+except near the dams and flood-gates, where it is from twelve to
+thirteen. With rivers so well supplied, sport is invariably obtained; so
+that patience, a virtue generally considered absolutely necessary in the
+angler, is scarcely required here, and fishing is actually a pastime of
+the _beau sexe_.
+
+Well do I remember the astonishment, the pleasure, the delicious joy of
+a young English lady we had the good fortune to have with us at Vezelay,
+some few years since (where, by-the-bye, she made quite a sensation),
+when for the first time, and seated comfortably upon the soft turf by
+the river side, she gracefully threw her line into the great _Gour_ of
+Akin; the bait had scarcely sunk, when the float was dancing about like
+a dervish, and finally disappeared; the lady pulled, the fish resisted;
+excited beyond measure, she redoubled her efforts, and tugging away with
+both hands, at length drew from his watery home a large carp, which
+flying through the air, described a splendid parabola, and landed in the
+adjoining field, to the great joy of the young lady, who showed her
+white teeth and laughed with might and main. But the poor devil of a
+servant to whom was confided the delicate task of impaling the bait,
+disentangling the line, and searching for the fish, when thus projected
+over the lady's head into the long grass behind her, had plenty to do I
+can aver, and did anything but laugh.
+
+Near the forests and the hills the rivers are much more shallow, more
+clear and limpid, and flow, dance, and bubble over a gravelly bottom or
+golden sands. In these the voracious trout abounds; he may be seen
+allowing himself to be lazily rocked by the eddy, by the twirling
+current, or reposing under the shadow of the large rocks, which,
+detached from the adjacent mountains, have fallen into the river, and
+been arrested in their course; here he waits for the delicious May-fly,
+and the fisherman's basket is soon filled--so soon that a celebrated
+doctor in our neighbourhood, whose house is situated near one of these
+streams, used to send his servant every morning to take a fresh dish for
+his breakfast. The largest and the best trout are found near Chatelux,
+in the heart of the Morvan,--an old _chateau_, on the summit of a high
+rock, ornamented with towers and turrets, and surrounded by thick and
+solitary woods, in itself a lion worth seeing.
+
+The present Count de Chatelux was aide-de-camp to Louis Phillipe, and a
+great friend of that sovereign. The river Cure flows at the foot of the
+hill on which the castle is situated, and its bed at this part is
+frequently divided, and forms many little islets, full of flowering
+shrubs and forest trees, which give the landscape a pleasing and
+picturesque appearance. From hence, for nearly twelve miles, roach,
+dace, chub, and trout are numerous, and take the fly well.
+
+Besides the _Gours_ we have mentioned, there are three spots in the
+Morvan that deserve attention in connection with fishing. These are
+Sermiselle, Pierre Pertuis, and the Chateau des Panolas. Sermiselle, at
+the junction of the Cure and the Cousin, at which point the road from
+Paris to Lyons passes, is a charming village, full of life and gaiety.
+At this spot the river begins to make a respectable figure; deep,
+solemn, and silent, it seems proud of its boats and ferries; but its
+waters have not that transparent appearance, that vivacious, laughing,
+and brawling character which distinguished them some miles further up.
+The fish in like manner resemble the stream; there are in this part
+monstrous carp, majestic eels, and solemn pike; and the line should be
+doubly strong if the angler is desirous of ever seeing a fish, or his
+hooks again.
+
+At some distance above Sermiselle, where the silence and solitude of the
+country still reign, a very curious mode of fishing is adopted during
+the burning heat of the summer months. About mid-day, when the sun in
+all its power shoots his golden rays perpendicularly on the waters,
+illuminating every large hole even in the profoundest depths, the large
+fish leave them, and, ascending to the surface, remain under the cool
+shade of the trees, watching for whatever tit-bit or delicacy the stream
+may bring with it, while others prefer a quiet saunter, or, with the
+dorsal fin above the water, lie so still and stationary near some lily
+or other aquatic plant, that they seem perfectly asleep.
+
+The enthusiastic sportsman, who fears neither storms nor a
+_coup-de-soleil_, makes his appearance about this time, without, it is
+true, either fishing-rod, lines, worms, flies, or bait of any
+description, but having under his left arm a double-barrel gun, in his
+right hand a large cabbage, and at his heels a clever poodle. The
+fisherman, or the huntsman, I scarcely know which to call him, now duly
+reconnoitres the river, fixes upon some tree, the large and lower
+branches of which spread over it, ascends with his gun and his cabbage,
+and having taken up an equestrian position upon one of the projecting
+arms, examines the surface of the deep stream below him. He has not been
+long on his perch when he perceives a stately pike paddling up the
+river; a leaf is instantly broken off the cabbage, and when the
+Branchiostagous has approached sufficiently near, is thrown into the
+water; frightened, the voracious fish at once disappears, but shortly
+after rises, and grateful to the unknown and kind friend who has sent
+him this admirable parasol, he goes towards it, and after pushing it
+about for a few seconds with his nose, finally places himself
+comfortably under its protecting shade. The sportsman, watching the
+animated gyrations of his cabbage-leaf, immediately fires, when the
+poodle, whose sagacity is quite equal to that of his master, plunges
+into the water, and if the fish is either dead or severely wounded fails
+not to bring out with him the scaly morsel; thus so long as the heavens
+are bright and blue, the water is warm, the large fish choose to
+promenade in the sun, and the sportsman's powers of climbing hold out,
+the sport continues. Sometimes the poodle and the fish have a very sharp
+struggle, and then the fun is great indeed, unless by chance the
+sportsman should unfortunately miss his hold in the midst of his
+laughter, and drop head-foremost into the water with his cabbage and his
+double-barrel.
+
+Pierre Pertuis on the Cure, is also a famous place for fishing, and an
+extraordinary spot, and the Morvinian peasant, a highly
+poetically-flavoured individual, has made it the theatre of some very
+fantastic scenes. Imagine a yellow rock, of gigantic height, terminating
+in a point, with its sides full of fissures, holes, and crevices,
+inhabited by crows, owls, and bats, having its base in the river and its
+summit crowned with a rough _chevelure_ of brambles and large creeping
+plants. The lower part of this rock is intersected by holes, through
+which the water rushes, tumbles, and whirls. The peasants pretend that
+the river near the rock cannot be fathomed, and that this particular
+spot is inhabited by fairies, nymphs, syrens, and other amiable ladies
+of this description, who have superb voices, and sing from the interior
+of their grottos delicious melodies of the other world, with the
+charitable intention of attracting the passing traveller or fisherman,
+and drowning him in the whirlpool beneath--a fate that would certainly
+be inevitable, if the attraction in question could bring them within
+its vortex, for certain it is that neither sheep-dogs or cattle which
+have fallen in, or been drawn within reach of its power, have ever been
+seen again. When the tempest rages here, the wind, rushing into the
+holes and fissures, produces a kind of moaning AEolian noise, and this
+with the cries of the owls and the rooks when the _mistral_ blows and
+they have the rheumatism, produces, and no wonder, a superstitious
+feeling of awe in the mind of the ignorant peasant.
+
+On the Cousin, which flows majestically through some of the most
+magnificent pastures in the world, and on the summit of a large hill,
+stands the charming Chateau des Panolas, the towers and walls of which,
+covered with pointed roofs and weather-cocks, and surrounded by domes,
+belvederes, and old-fashioned dovecots, give it at a distance the
+appearance of some oriental building. The weather-cocks in particular
+are of the most fanciful and grotesque designs, and it is said, and I
+should think there can be no doubt of the fact, that in no other
+structure have so many been seen together: it is calculated there are no
+less than three hundred. In going and returning from the forest, many a
+time have I and my friends, in the hey-day of youthful iniquities,
+knocked one of them off with a ball from our guns, to the great anger
+of the proprietor, who threatened us with his mahogany crutch from the
+hall door.
+
+In the great ponds of Marot, and in the lakes of Lomervo--immense liquid
+plains, deep and surrounded in their whole circumference by a forest of
+green rushes, water-lilies, flags, and many other aquatic plants,
+forming a wall of verdure--the enormous quantity of fish of every kind
+is almost incredible. Nor is this extraordinary, for the waters of at
+least a dozen streams from the mountains, which swarm with life, fall
+into these vast reservoirs, and they are only fished once in every five
+years. This is a delectable spot for fishermen; but, on the other hand,
+as the value of these sheets of water is well understood by their
+proprietors, they are sharply looked after by them and their keepers,
+and it is almost as difficult to find an opportunity of throwing a line
+during the day, as it is for a poacher to throw a casting net on a
+moonlight night.
+
+Nevertheless, as the appropriation of other people's property has an
+exquisite charm for some temperaments,--as a stolen apple to a child's
+palate is much more delightful than one that is not--the demon of
+acquisitiveness is always leaning over a man's shoulder,--that is to
+say, a poacher's shoulder, or even that of a gentleman with poaching
+tastes and inclinations,--to breathe in his ear bad advice. As to the
+peasants in the neighbourhood, they are always consulting together, or
+inventing some method by which they may circumvent the proprietors and
+appropriate their fish to themselves.
+
+One of the happiest discoveries of the kind I ever heard of,--not the
+most recent but the best,--is the following. Every person in the
+possession of a cottage, possesses also a few ducks and geese, which
+paddle about their humble habitations. A man who has an itching for the
+thing, and who desires to become a pond-skimmer, as they are called,
+carefully selects from his squadron of _palmipedes_, the strongest, the
+most intelligent duck or goose of the party; his choice made, he
+immediately sets to work to give him the education befitting a bird
+destined for so honourable and diplomatic an employment.
+
+After very many trials, lessons, and lectures, more or less difficult
+and tedious, the bird is taught to swim to a distance right ahead--to
+turn to one side when his master sings, and return to him when he
+whistles. These two primary and elementary movements, which appear so
+very natural, demand, nevertheless, wonderful patience, and no little
+cleverness and tact in the professor to instil--for his pupils, be it
+remembered, are ducks and geese--and furnishes an example of how the
+hope and love of gain has its effect on mankind. These very peasants,
+who never would take the trouble to learn their letters--only
+twenty-four--who would not many of them go two miles to learn how to
+sign their own names, pass whole days in the gray waters of these
+marshes, more often than not up to their waists in mud, whistling and
+singing and twitching the legs of their unfortunate birds, and nearly
+pulling them off with a string, when they either do not comprehend, or
+obey as quickly as they might, the orders they receive.
+
+Dozens of ducks and geese that would in London or Paris be considered
+highly curious and infinitely wiser than any of their species--even
+those of the Capitol--are thus trained every year in Le Morvan, without
+any one giving them a thought, and may be purchased, education included,
+for two shillings a piece. When these winged students are so thoroughly
+qualified for their duties, that they can go through their exercise
+without a mistake, and are considered worthy of taking the field, the
+peasant puts them into his bag, and setting off very early in the
+morning to one of the great ponds I have mentioned, conceals himself
+behind a thick tufty curtain of flags, from whence he can see without
+being seen.
+
+Here, opening his bag, he takes out the half suffocated ducks or geese,
+which are glad enough to find themselves once more on their favourite
+element; and the intelligent birds have scarcely regained their liberty
+when the peasant commences his ballad, and immediately the anchor is
+apeak and they are off; he sings, he whistles, and they turn, like two
+well-manned frigates, and come back to him without a moment's delay. The
+act is so natural, so simple, that no one can be attracted by it; nor is
+it possible to suspect a goose or a duck with its head down searching
+for food, that paddles about in the weeds or on the shore, or dabbles
+amongst the rushes. Should the keeper appear, the peasant is sure to be
+found lying on his back half asleep, or singing or whistling, as if
+mocking the lark in the clear blue sky above him.
+
+Nevertheless, this goose, this duck, and this man are first-rate
+thieves,--cracksmen of their class; for the peasant, before he confides
+his poultry to the waves, makes their toilette; sliding under the left
+wing and over the right, across the body, like a soldier's belt, a
+strong and well-baited pike-hook. Thus equipped and ready for the start,
+the pirate birds leave on their buccaneering expedition; but they are
+scarcely a stone's throw from the shore, and well clear of the little
+islands of flags, when a hungry pike, observing the delicious frog
+towing in the rear, seizes it, and makes off to his hole, to gorge the
+bait at his leisure. More easily thought than done;--the goose stoutly
+resists, and refuses to accompany the fresh-water shark to his weedy
+home. A warm and obstinate engagement is the result; the peasant
+watches, with approving eye, the embarassment of his feathered
+accomplice, until he thinks it time to put an end to the scrimmage, when
+he whistles like an easterly wind in a passion. The goose, rather
+encumbered by the carnivorous gentleman below him, endeavours for some
+time but in vain to obey the signal; he flaps his wings, works away with
+his legs, and cackles without ceasing. The poacher encourages him with
+another whistle, and at length the bird, in spite of all his adversary's
+attempts to the contrary, leads the "greedy game of the deep" to the
+shore, and delivers it to his master. This is, certainly, a very curious
+mode of taking pike, and the live trimmer looks very puzzled when the
+voracious fish is hooked; but the following anecdote, taken from the
+scrap-book of Mr. M'Diarmid, shows that a Scotchman once adopted the
+same method, though for a different reason. "Several years ago," he
+writes, "a farmer, living in the immediate neighbourhood of Lochmaben,
+Dumfriesshire, kept a gander, who not only had a great trick of
+wandering himself, but also delighted in piloting forth his cackling
+harem, to weary themselves in circumnavigating their native lake, or in
+straying amidst forbidden fields on the opposite shore. Wishing to check
+this flagrant habit, the farmer one day seized the gander just as he was
+about to spring upon the blue bosom of his favourite element, and tying
+a large fish-hook to his leg, to which was attached part of a dead frog,
+he suffered him to proceed upon his voyage of discovery. As had been
+anticipated, this bait soon caught the eye of a ravenous pike, which
+swallowing the deadly hook, not only arrested the progress of the
+astonished gander, but forced him to perform half-a-dozen summersets on
+the surface of the water! For some time, the struggle was most
+amusing--the fish pulling, and the bird screaming with all its
+might,--the one attempting to fly, and the other to swim, from the
+invisible enemy--the gander one moment losing and the next regaining his
+centre of gravity, and casting between whiles many a rueful look at his
+snow-white fleet of geese and goslings, who cackled out their sympathy
+for their afflicted commodore. At length Victory declared in favour of
+the feathered angler, who, bearing away for the nearest shore, landed on
+the smooth green grass one of the finest pike ever caught in the Castle
+Loch."
+
+This adventure is said to have cured the gander of his desperate
+propensity for wandering.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+     Village _fetes_--The first of May--The religious festivals--The
+     _Fete Dieu_--Appearance of the streets--The altars erected in
+     them--Procession from the church--Country fairs--The book-stalls at
+     them--Pictures of the Roman Catholic Church--Before the
+     _Vendange_--Proprietors' hopes and fears--Shooting in the
+     vineyards--The first day of the _Vendange_--Appearance of the
+     country--Influx of visitors at this season--The
+     consequences--Herminie--Her sad history--Le Morvan--Recommended to
+     the English traveller--Lord Brougham and Cannes--Contrast between
+     it and Le Morvan.
+
+
+One of the happiest and most useful customs established by our
+ancestors, was, without doubt, the village _fete_--the periodical
+festival that takes place in every hamlet, and at which the inhabitants
+of the adjoining _communes_ assemble on a specified day to foot it gaily
+in the dance and drink each other's health glass to glass in brimming
+bumpers. These joyous _fetes_, a kind of fraternal and social
+invitation, which are given and accepted by the rural population when
+spring and verdure made their appearance, are held all over France, and
+rejoice every heart. In our day, though much shorn of its ancient
+revelry, and neglected, _la fete du village_ is still kept up, for it
+is, so to speak, indigenous,--a part of our social habits, and like
+everything which carries within it a generous sentiment, is loved and
+cherished by the people. As the day approaches every village is suitably
+decorated, the women are all on the tip toe of excitement to see and be
+seen, the peasant throws dull care behind him, and the artizans in the
+nearest town work with renewed energy in order that they may do honour
+to the occasion. Every one, in short, makes his way to the rendezvous, a
+merry laugh on his lip and joy in his heart, and, lost in the tumult and
+general gaiety that prevail, all forget, for some few hours, their hard
+work and privations.
+
+These festivals offer to each either profit or amusement; the peasants
+find in them a refreshing and salutary rest from toil, the tradesman
+fails not to fill his pockets with their hard earnings, the clown shows
+off his summersets, the young men are touched with the tender passion,
+and the young girls, with their white teeth and sparkling eyes, await
+with feigned indifference the proposals of their admirers. The village
+_fete_ forms a bright epoch in rustic life, and the gay hours passed at
+them are the happiest, the most joyous, and the most enchanting of the
+year.
+
+Our ancestors, who knew and more thoroughly understood these matters
+than we do, who loved a laugh, the dance, and the merry outpourings of
+the heart, endeavoured by every means in their power to multiply them,
+and, after having seized upon the name of every saint in paradise, they
+managed to appropriate, and always for the same motive, all the various
+occupations known in the cultivation of the fields as a good excuse for
+holding more of these saturnalia. The season for sowing was one, the
+hay-harvest another, the wheat-harvest, the period of felling the oaks
+in the forest were excellent opportunities for establishing a new
+_fete_, and consequently buying a new coat, singing a carol, drinking to
+France, and skipping _des Rigodons_. For, be it said, one really does
+amuse oneself in my beautiful country; yes, one amuses oneself, perhaps,
+much more than one works; there are more Casinos built than acres
+grubbed up, and is not this partly the reason why the land is so badly
+tilled and produces only one half of what it should. But what signifies
+it, after all, if this half is sufficient for us. England, they say, is
+more opulent and better cultivated; be it so,--she is richer, she
+manufactures more; but is she happier?
+
+Independently of these _fetes_, the number of which is infinite, but
+which occur only, in each locality, once a year, there exist also those
+merry meetings, which, like the Sunday, are understood by the peasantry
+as a general holiday. Amongst these, the most animated and attractive,
+and more usually marked by happy incidents, is that of the first of May.
+At the earliest dawn of day, the tones of the bagpipe may be
+distinguished in the distance, coming up the principal street of the
+village. He who has heard this rustic sound in the happy days of his
+childhood, under the shade of the elms, will always love the unmusical
+and melancholy wailing of the bagpipe. The strain has scarcely died away
+when all the village is alive, every one is up and dressed in his
+best--the children, with enormous nosegays in each little hand, go and
+present them to their delighted parents, and wish them "_un doux mois de
+Mai_."
+
+Each house, perfumed like a parterre of flowers, opens its doors, and,
+during the live long day, it is between friends and acquaintance a
+series of happy smiles, and a mutual exchange of nosegays and hearty
+shaking of hands. Then in the evening, when the moon has risen in the
+west over the fir woods, the young lads and lasses, with their fathers
+and mothers, saunter along the streets arm in arm. At short distances,
+on the roofs of the houses, are seen, elevated in the air, gigantic
+chaplets of flowers, illuminated by large torches of rosin. Within these
+chaplets are others of smaller size. A dance, _grand rond_, is formed by
+the young lovers that have carried the May to their sweethearts, who,
+rising before the dawn, had already gathered the mysterious declaration
+of love, perfumed and still covered with the tears of night. In this
+large circle is formed another of children, about ten years of age, and
+within this again, a third of quite little things; small human garlands
+within the greater one. And the bagpipe plays, and all the world dance,
+and every one is happy, and the evening breeze shaking the large
+chaplets above showers of lilac and hawthorn bloom fall on the dancers
+and rustic ballroom beneath.
+
+To these village _fetes_ must be added, to complete the list of our
+popular holidays--the religious festivals, established by the Roman
+Catholic church, which, in the eyes of our rural population, are the
+most imposing and magnificent ceremonies of the year. These _fetes_ are
+very little known in Protestant countries; a few details, therefore, of
+one of them, taken at hazard, may please, or at least offer some point
+of interest to the reader.
+
+In the month of June, when the heavens are all azure, when the sun
+smiles on us here below, and the summer flowers are all in bloom, the
+long-expected _fete_, the _Fete Dieu_, _la fete des Roses_, the feast of
+Corpus Christi, one of the most brilliant festivals of the Roman
+Catholic church takes place.
+
+Several days before, all the houses appear in a new toilette, decked out
+with evergreens and branches of the vine and tamarisk, festoons of which
+are suspended from window to window. All the streets of the village are
+washed and swept, like a drawing-room. On the preceding evening every
+garden is opened, the borders are ravaged, baskets-full of roses,
+armfulls of jasmine, bunches of gilly-flowers and sweet-pea fall under a
+little army of scissars and white hands. The camellias complain, the
+heliotropes murmur, all the tribe of tulips are in low spirits, for each
+family gathers in a perfect harvest of flowers--every one remarks to the
+other--"To-morrow is the _fete Dieu_, the feast of roses--the favourite
+festival of the year." And when aurora, pale with watching, rises in the
+cloudless sky, when the cock, herald of the morn, proclaims the birth of
+another day, when the first golden ray, traversing space, lights the
+eastern casement, behind which many a lovely bosom heaves, with
+anticipated conquest and excitement, the bells of the village church
+are heard, and at this merry signal every one is up and soon busily
+engaged superintending the preparations for the day.
+
+The streets, as if by enchantment, are carpeted with verdure; the pine,
+the oak, and the birch, from the neighbouring forest, contribute their
+young shoots and leaves; the prickly broom its yellow flowers. The
+facades of the houses are hidden under their various hangings, the rich
+suspend from their windows their splendid carpets; the poor, sheets as
+white as driven snow. All ornament them, here and there, with roses,
+pinks, and carnations. Then, at short distances down the principal
+street, the young _demoiselles_ of the village erect what are termed
+_reposoirs_, a kind of chapel or altar, improvised for the occasion,
+which lead to an emulation and an animated rivalry perfectly terrible.
+It is whose shall be the largest, best, and most elegantly decorated,
+and these young nymphs, usually so reserved and so easily frightened,
+become, for this week, as bold and free as so many dragoons. They enter
+the house, without being announced, open the drawers, visit the
+secretaries, ransack the cupboards. Pirates, with taper fingers, they
+put into their baskets and reticules all the valuables they can lay
+their hands on. Objects of art they are sure to seize, more especially
+if they are made of the precious metals. It is who shall adorn her
+_reposoir_ with gold and bronze vases, with enamelled cups, pictures,
+and rich crucifixes. Important meetings are held, in some secret spot,
+to determine of what form the altar shall be; if the dominating colour
+shall be blue, purple, or lilac. Then there is a consultation whether
+the drapery, that is to cover this temporary chapel, shall be with or
+without a fringe,--a discussion which becomes more entangled with
+difficulties than those in the Parliamentary Club of the Rue des
+Pyramides, as to the continued existence or demise of our poor
+constitution. Silk, satin, and velvet ornament the interior of the
+elegant edifice; the most delicate perfumes burn in each of its corners,
+and, in order further to embellish the altar on which the Holy Eucharist
+is to rest for a few minutes, there is a perfect coquetting with
+chaplets, festoons of gauze, crystal lamps of various colours, and
+transparencies through which the subdued rays of the sun shed their
+softened light.
+
+And, when everything is ready, when the mass has been said, when the
+moment has arrived for the procession to move through the streets, the
+bells ring a still merrier peal, the great folding-doors of the
+principal entrance of the church are thrown open, and emerging from
+thence one sees beneath the vaulted arch, first, the great silver
+cross, then the banner of the blessed Virgin, carried by a beautiful
+young girl, dressed in a robe of spotless white; after her come several
+little children with flaxen heads, their hair parted and flowing on
+their shoulders, carrying in their hands baskets ornamented with lace,
+and full of poppies and corn-flowers; behind them are the children of
+the choir, with their silver-chased incense burners; then two deacons,
+one carrying on a silver plate the bloom of the vine, the other a head
+of corn; then four men supporting a large shield, on which are twelve
+loaves and a lamb, symbolical of the day; and lastly, under a canopy
+enriched with gold lace and fringe, the old priest, calm and grave, who
+carries in his hands the Holy Eucharist, followed by a long line of his
+faithful parishioners, with the mammas and young girls two and two,
+singing psalms and canticles. In this order they move along the crowded
+streets, which are strewn with fennel, green branches, and leaves.
+
+From time to time the whole procession halts before some _reposoir_--the
+little girls drop three curtsies before the beautiful altar, and scatter
+high in the air handfuls of broken flowers, which shed a delicious
+fragrance around; the children of the choir wave their censers to and
+fro, the old priest blesses the crowd who kneel before him, and the
+smoke of the incense, and the perfume of the roses, ascend towards
+heaven as the adorations and prayers of all present ascend to God. This,
+the holiest and most imposing _fete_ of our rural districts, is also the
+one the most loved. Pity not the peasant, pity not those who are from
+necessity obliged to live in these retired spots. They have their
+_fetes_ as well as the rich, happier and much more magnificent, at which
+they can be present and form part without paying anything. Nature, too,
+source of so many marvels, whether she covers the earth with a robe of
+verdure, or fields of golden corn, or that she shelters it under a
+mantle of snow, presents to the husbandman some interesting scene. Have
+they not also the shade and silence of the forest, the eternal freshness
+of the fountains?
+
+It is true the peasants know nothing of Beethoven's symphony in C, they
+are not familiar with the melodies of Rossini, Madame Grisi has never in
+her terrible finale "_Qual cor tradisti_" made them weep, nor has the
+orchestra of Monsieur Jullien made them deaf. But what are these
+splendid wonders of the town to them? Have they not a melodious choir of
+birds to arouse them each morning from their slumbers? have they not as
+scenes, the woods, the bubbling waters, verdant valleys, real sunrises
+and sunsets? Can they not, seated on the summit of some hill, round
+which the breeze of evening plays, gaze upon the glorious sky above them
+spangled with stars, those unfading flowers of Heaven? Say, reader, is
+not this hill a charming pit-stall, and much preferable to the narrow
+crimson section of the bench at the Opera? These are some of their
+enjoyments; then how could they with any degree of pleasure stick
+themselves up like logs of wood or trusses of hay before a row of lurid
+lamps, to admire some painted men and women mincing up and down the
+stage, or peer through two telescopes at forests of painted calico and
+moons cut out of pasteboard, or listen to hackneyed airs which have been
+sung and resung a hundred times--worn up, in short, like an old rope?
+
+The peasant farmer or yeoman of France, who in the midst of the most
+pleasing circumstances, never forgets his own interests, has also found
+it desirable for the advancement of his worldly prosperity, to establish
+fairs, at which he can sell his hemp and beasts, his wine and his crops;
+purchase clothes for his family, and coulters for his ploughs.
+
+These fairs, which are held once in each month in all the towns of
+Burgundy and large villages of Le Morvan, attract a great concourse of
+people, and as there is much variety in the costumes, head-dresses and
+colours, the effect is highly picturesque. The mountaineer brings with
+him for sale wild boar and venison, wood and wild fruits of the forest;
+the inhabitant of the plain, the thousand productions of the
+neighbouring manufactories. Second-rate jewellers arrive with their
+boxes full of gold crosses and buckles, holy chaplets blessed at some
+favourite shrine, and silver rings.
+
+Book-stalls are also to be seen, kept by Jesuits in disguise, the
+shelves of which are loaded with inferior literature, with a perfect
+deluge of breviaries, almanacks, abridgments of the Lives of the Saints,
+with "Letters fallen from Heaven," in which, "Ladies and gentlemen,"
+shouts the proprietor, "you will read the details, truthful and
+historical, of the last miracle at Rimini; also a new and marvellous
+account, equally authentic, of several pictures of Christ that have shed
+tears of blood. Buy, ladies and gentlemen, buy the history of these
+astonishing miracles--only a penny, ladies, for which you will have into
+the bargain the invaluable signature of our Holy Father the Pope, and
+the benediction of our Lord the Bishop."
+
+But ought one to be surprised at such announcements, at such a traffic,
+or that in these so-called enlightened days, not only auditors but
+purchasers should be found?--that there should, in fact, be a sale for
+these printed mystifications, when officers of the government and
+officers of the armed force, attest on their honour the truth of these
+impudent impositions upon the credulity of mankind, affirm the accuracy
+and _bona fide_ character of these winking, blinking, blasphemous,
+lachrymal representations?
+
+Yes--a sub-prefect, a mayor, and an officer of the _gendarmerie_, have
+signed a document stating that they had seen a picture of Christ
+shedding tears of blood!
+
+When archbishops order public prayers and thanksgivings for the renewal
+of these pasquinades, this ridiculous mockery, can one be astonished, I
+say, at the state of religious ignorance and blindness of our peasantry?
+Such, with a few wretched prints representing Napoleon passing the Alps
+seated on an eagle; Poniatowsky and his white horse attempting to cross
+the Oder; Cambronne, with imperial moustachios, on his knees repeating
+the celebrated _mot_ which he never said: "_La garde meurt et ne se rend
+pas_," &c.,--such, I am grieved to confess, is the miserable
+intellectual food, the wretched mental and moral stock of human and
+religious knowledge that supplies the literary and artistic wants of
+the greater portion of the peasants of our departments.
+
+At these fairs all the farm servants are engaged; those who wish to try
+a change of masters, or hire themselves merely for the harvest, assemble
+in the open space near the church, and then offer to those who require
+them, their brawny arms, and their farming acquirements. The most
+celebrated of these fairs is that held on the First of September, to
+which whole hamlets send all their able-bodied men and women, who hire
+themselves to the great proprietors for the _vendange_--for this in
+Burgundy and Le Morvan is the great work, the chief event of the year;
+it is on the _vendange_ that depend the commerce, the tranquillity and
+happiness of the country.
+
+Monsieur B.... is ruined if the sun is obscured by clouds. Monsieur
+D.... who has cunningly laid his hands upon all the barrels within
+thirty miles round, will put a pistol to his head if he cannot sell his
+army of hogsheads. This one relies upon his vineyard for paying his
+debts--another cannot marry unless he makes three hundred tierces of
+wine. Eight out of twelve, in short, reckon upon the produce of their
+vines to buy a new carriage or to be saved from prison; and the agonised
+mariners of the wrecked _Medusa_ never cast their eyes with more
+intense anxiety towards the horizon than do these proprietors of our
+vineyards every morning before the vintage.
+
+If it looks like rain no sunflower is more yellow than their
+countenances; if the cold is unusual every face is pale, and should a
+frost appear imminent, those whose affairs are the most compromised,
+pack up their effects and make ready for a start. But on the other hand,
+if the sky is serene and the wind warm, husbands are actually seen
+embracing their wives, and promising them any toilette they may fancy.
+Should the heat become Bengalic and insupportable oh! then all Burgundy
+is dancing and running to the vineyards,--all the Morvinians fly to the
+hills to enjoy the cool breezes and admire the luxuriant panorama
+beneath and around them.
+
+But for some months previous to the _vendange_, no one but a proprietor
+has the right to enter a vineyard; at this period a perfect calm and
+silence reigns, and they become an asylum, a veritable land of Goshen,
+an oasis for all the partridges, hares, and rabbits of the
+neighbourhood. In order to prevent gentlemen and professional poachers
+from cruising in these delightful latitudes, killing the game and
+injuring the vines, a number of _gardes champetres_, generally old
+soldiers, are chosen, who armed with an old sabre, post themselves on
+some height which commands the vineyard, ready to lay violent hands on
+any delinquent that may make his appearance. But in spite of the _garde
+champetre_, his long sabre, their interminable cut and thrust, and his
+eternal _de par la loi, arretez!_ there is a sport in the early morning,
+called _a la traulee_, which is not without its charms.
+
+The vineyards of Burgundy are for the most part divided into sections,
+that is to say, at from two to three hundred paces the contiguity of the
+vines is interrupted, and a small road, which serves during the
+_vendange_ to facilitate the communication and transport of the grapes,
+is cut in the vineyard. At daylight, therefore, before the sun is above
+the horizon, or the white fog hanging in the valleys has been dispersed
+by his rays, and the fashionable gentleman of the town is on the point
+of going to bed, the sportsman, always keen and on the alert, arrives,
+walks slowly and carefully along the roads I have just mentioned,
+looking cautiously right and left, and between the intervals of the
+vines on either side of him.
+
+The rabbits hopping under the leaves, the covey of partridges bathing
+amidst the dew, the hares gravely discussing among themselves the
+respective merits of the heath and wild thyme, are thus surprised in
+their matutinal occupations, and become the prey of the delighted
+sportsman. But the moment approaches when the comparative calm and
+protection which the poor animals enjoy will cease--their days of fun
+and festival are numbered; their enemies up to this period have been
+few--the rich proprietors, the privileged, but now the masses are
+preparing, they are cleaning up their clumsy blunderbusses, and
+to-morrow "the million" will take the field and assail and pop at them
+from every road and pathway--for the mayor, after due consultation with
+the principal personages in the village, has sent his drummer, his
+Mercury, his crier, to beat a tattoo in all the public places, and
+crossways, and announce in front of the _cabarets_ that the grapes being
+ripe the _vendange_ is opened.
+
+The following day, when the last star in the heavens is disappearing,
+when the doors of morning are scarcely opened, every road is covered
+with long lines of waggons drawn by oxen, and a cavalcade of horses and
+mules, and great asses carrying panniers may be seen galloping along in
+all directions. Voices, shouts, squeaking wheels, and neighing horses
+are also heard on every side, and parties of _vendangeurs_ and
+_vendangeuses_, arm in arm, with baskets on their backs, and grape
+knives in their belts, their broad-brimmed hats encircled with ribbons
+and flowers, are seen marching along, singing many a Bacchanalian chorus
+in honour of the occasion. They are on their way to the vineyards, and
+like so many fauns and Bacchantes, only well draped, are with joyous
+hearts ready to gather in the harvest of the ruby grape.
+
+In advance of this delighted and merry crowd, and always like the lark,
+the first on the wing, the sportsman is already at his post,--for the
+first day of the _vendange_ is, as Navarre used to say, a day of powder,
+the _fete du fusil_. And now is formed a line of sometimes three hundred
+_vendangeurs_ and _vendangeuses_ who starting at the same moment, ascend
+the hill-side cutting the grapes, filling and emptying their baskets.
+The young men strike up some jovial song in praise of wine, the girls
+reply; and before this soul-stirring chorus, this burst of gay and
+animated feeling, the game, astounded at the concert, break and retire
+before them. Then is the moment for the sportsman, who, concealed in a
+large thicket and comfortably seated at the summit of the hill, listens
+and laughs in his sleeve as he hears the affrighted partridge call, and
+the timid hare rushing through the vines towards him; they approach, are
+within range of his gun, and ere long the shot-bag is emptied, and the
+sportsman is in that rare but agreeable dilemma of not knowing what to
+do with his game or his gun.
+
+In a wine country the _vendange_ is certainly the most exciting and
+merriest season of the year--it is a succession of delightful _fetes_ in
+the open air, of repasts amongst the vines and under the shade of the
+peach-trees, riding-parties in the forest, whose echoes are awakened by
+the melancholy notes of the horn, water-parties on the lakes, dances in
+the field and round the wine-press, &c.
+
+Every _chateau_ is full to overflowing in Le Morvan during the month of
+August,--bands of Parisians, Picards, and Normans, acquaintances
+scarcely made, friends, friends'-friends, with their wives, children,
+dogs, nurses, and luggage arrive each hour and by every road. Every
+family is invaded, beds are doubled, plates are not to be found,--there
+is only one glass for two, one knife for three; the servants, stupified
+and astonished, know not how to reply or which way to turn themselves;
+the cooks, half-roasted and lost amidst an army of sauce-pans, know not
+what they are doing; they put mustard into the _meringues_, cruets of
+vinegar in the soup--every one is on the laugh, except however the heads
+of families, who rendered almost crazy by this tide of human beings
+always rising, by the bell of the _porte cochere_ always ringing, pass
+on from one to the other the new arrivals, with a note as follows:
+
+"Mons. de G.... presents his compliments to Mons. de V...., and has the
+honour to inform him that not possessing in his house one bed or one
+arm-chair that is not occupied, he has the pleasure of sending him two
+Normans and three Parisians."
+
+P.S. "The two Normans are first-rate waltzers, the Parisians perfect
+singers." The reply will perhaps be couched in the following strain:
+
+"Mons. de V.... presents his compliments to Mons. de G...., and has the
+honour to inform him that being himself under the necessity of sleeping
+in his cellar, he cannot, though most anxious to oblige him, receive the
+two Norman dancers and the three Parisian warblers." Thus it sometimes
+happens that very charming, elegant, and sensitive gentlemen, who under
+ordinary circumstances would be very difficult to please, are obliged
+to sleep in a barn or loft, on a very nice bed of clean straw, with a
+dark lantern to light them there, and the luxury of a truss of hay for a
+pillow.
+
+The peasants, generally speaking, do not witness the arrival of these
+visitors with much pleasure,--the dandies more especially, who shod in
+varnished leather, always over-dressed, musked, and starched, attract,
+so they think, too much the attention of the young girls. Fathers,
+mothers, and, above all, lovers, are at once on the look out. They
+mistrust these fine gentlemen, whom they always designate by the
+appellation of "gilded serpents."
+
+My friends from other departments often remarked the looks of aversion
+with which the natives sometimes met them; and not comprehending the
+reason, have asked me for an explanation. Do you observe, I said, that
+little white house, half-hidden yonder in the poplars--there, on the
+banks of the Cure? That house, a few years ago, was the abiding-place of
+a happy and honest family,--a father, and his three daughters.
+
+The father, who in his youth was in very good circumstances, was ruined
+by bad harvests, an epidemic disease in his cattle, and by other
+disasters that cause the downfall of many farmers. Nevertheless, and
+though his losses were great, he lived happy and even contented with his
+children, who, all three of irreproachable conduct and character, and
+excellent needlewomen, did their utmost to ameliorate his position. They
+made dresses for the ladies in the town, worked by the day, and
+sometimes, when they found their earnings during the summer months fall
+short of what they thought sufficient to meet the expenses of the coming
+winter, they hired themselves to some proprietor during the period of
+the _vendange_.
+
+The youngest of the three,--Herminie, she might be about sixteen,--was a
+charming girl, a true child of Nature, fresh as a wild flower, awaking
+and rising every day of the year from her peaceful happy couch with the
+birds of heaven, always smiling and singing. Herminie was the joy, the
+favourite of the old man,--she was the linnet, the darling, and the life
+of the house. One autumnal day, (the period at which, as I have before
+remarked, our province abounds with strangers,) her figure attracted the
+attention of one of those cursed beings, with a false heart and lying
+lips, that the great cities send into our rural districts, carrying with
+them desolation and mourning. I know not in what manner it occurred,
+what falsehoods, what arts he used, or what traps he laid,--but he
+succeeded too well in his base purpose. The poor girl was deceived.
+Easily convinced,--she was too pure, too young to doubt; and her mother,
+who would have been there to watch over her, was alas! sleeping in the
+very churchyard in which, in the shade of the evening, she first met her
+seducer. Enough,--the heartless man of the world obtained the love of
+the poor and simple Herminie,--and his whim, his heartless selfish whim
+gratified,--he disappeared.
+
+The fault, the fault of confiding woman, soon became public. Abandoned
+and betrayed, the poor girl sought death as a refuge in her distress,
+and threw herself into the river; but her father, who watched every
+action of his daughter, was near, and saved her. A man of unusual
+intelligence, and an excellent heart, his maledictions fell entirely
+upon the head of him who had wronged her; for his child he had only
+tears and consolation. Herminie became a mother; her sisters and friends
+were earnest and devoted in their attentions, and anticipated her every
+thought; but broken-hearted, she bent her head like some beautiful lily,
+which has at the parent root some corroding worm. Her gaiety fled, her
+songs ceased; pale and silent, she might be seen standing on some rock,
+listening to the howling of the storm, or, her little boy on her lap,
+seated for hours at her father's cottage door, picking some faded rose
+to pieces leaf by leaf, and looking vacantly on the fragments as they
+lay at her feet.
+
+But at the bottom of her cup of grief was still one more bitter
+drop,--oh! how much more bitter than the rest! Her child, as if
+inheriting the melancholy of its mother, ceased to prattle, to smile; it
+did not thrive, it sickened; and in spite of all her care and watchings,
+of whole nights passed in prayers to the Virgin, to her patron Saint,
+and God, in spite of many an hour of repentant and sorrowing tears,--it
+died! Bowed to the earth by this fresh, this overwhelming misfortune,
+Herminie complained not, but she became more pale: she was sometimes
+found plunged in silent but profound grief, looking towards heaven as if
+seeking there the little precious being the Almighty had taken from her;
+as if she was anxious to follow,--to be at rest, united with her baby
+boy again.
+
+The _vendange_ returned once more; but the perfumed gentleman, the
+villain from the capital, came not again. Herminie was desirous of
+assisting in the labours of the season. "I am," said she, "strong
+enough;" and though her sisters endeavoured to dissuade her, she
+persisted in accompanying them to the vineyard, but there she found her
+strength was unequal to the task, a smile to one, and a kind answer to
+another, was all that she could give,--nevertheless it was remarked,
+during the course of the day that she spoke several times out loud, as
+if conversing with some invisible being. Evening arrived, and the
+waggons carried off their ripe and luscious loads, leaving the young men
+and girls racing up and down the pathways, and amongst the vines,
+endeavouring to smear each other's faces with the purple fruit.
+
+Behind these laughing groups came Herminie, the expression of her dark
+blue eye floating in space, and, like the flight of the swallow, resting
+on nothing. Onward she slowly stepped, idly pushing before her the first
+faded leaves of autumn, withered by the hoar frost; and, instead of the
+intoxicating grape, she carried in her hand a _bouquet_ of the arbutus
+and the _alize_, fruits without perfume, like her own heart, now without
+hope or love. Night came: every eye weary with toil was closed,--the
+chimes alone telling the hours of the night vibrated on the air. Towards
+morning a startling cry of horror was heard from a cottage on the banks
+of the Cure--Herminie was dead! that is to say, her face was paler than
+usual in her sleep; but she awoke no more! I shall ever remember that
+beautiful face, for I had never till then contemplated the countenance
+of one whose spirit had taken its way to that country from which no
+traveller returns.
+
+A few days, and the withered rose-leaves which the poor girl had pulled
+at the cottage door were scattered by the wind; a few more, and the poor
+old father followed his favourite child; and his surviving daughters,
+half-crazed with grief and sorrow, left the neighbourhood. As to him who
+was the original cause of this domestic tragedy,--rich, happy, perhaps a
+deputy and making laws himself,--he lives, and is probably respected. We
+call ourselves a civilized people; we throw into prison a man who
+strikes another,--and we do not punish, we do not cast from society, we
+do not even reproach the base hypocrite, who, with a smile on his lips,
+and for the infamous gratification of his bad, ungovernable, selfish
+passions, becomes the murderer of a whole family. Bad and rotten are the
+laws which permit such infamous practices. Unworthy of trust are the
+legislators who dream not--who never think of preventing these impure
+and festering diseases of our social system. My friends, who had
+listened attentively to the sad tale, turned from me to inspect more
+closely the white cottage by the Cure, and no longer expressed any
+astonishment at the severe countenances of the peasants.
+
+But how does it happen, will the reader say, that so delightful a
+province of France as that of Le Morvan should have remained for
+nineteen centuries unknown to England,--that nation of travellers who
+are to be found in every corner of the globe inhabitable and
+uninhabitable? How is it that such a pearl,--a sporting country
+too,--should have remained buried for so long a period as it were under
+the dark mantle of indifference? And is it to be credited that in a
+district in which are to be found simultaneously wolves and health, wild
+boar and simplicity, the best wines in the world, and all the
+theological virtues, should have remained up to this day hidden--lost in
+the deep shadows of its woods and the solitude of its mountains?
+
+In the first place, then, I must remind you that in order to reach Le
+Morvan it is not necessary to traverse either the Indian Archipelago or
+the Cordilleras, or black or ferocious populations. Those who have by
+accident passed through it, have not been induced by its appearance to
+inscribe its name in their note-books. But Le Morvan is close at hand;
+Le Morvan, so to speak, touches England,--a sufficient reason, as every
+one knows, for taking no interest in it.
+
+Every year caravans of tourists leave for Italy and the East; they go to
+gaze upon the remains of what was once the palace of the famous Zenobia,
+Queen of Palmyra, or to kill the lizards on the steps of the mouldering
+Coliseum; one invites the scorpions of Greece to bite his leg; another
+seeks the yellow fever in the Brazils; a third prefers being robbed in
+Calabria, or dying of thirst in the Deserts of Lybia;--the more distant
+and perilous the journey, the greater the pleasure of accomplishing it.
+Such is English taste.
+
+Yet Le Morvan is a charming and picturesque country--a lovely region,
+clad with verdure, flowers, and forest-trees, and watered by fresh,
+sparkling, and silvery streams, which every one can reach without
+fatigue, much expense, and without the slightest chance of danger, but
+perhaps, as I have before said, its proximity is its misfortune.
+
+Should any one after perusing this volume desire to visit Le Morvan, he
+should be aware that to do so with any degree of pleasure or profit it
+is absolutely necessary to speak French fluently,--for half our
+peasants are not in the least aware the earth is round, and that on it
+there are other nations besides their own. To see its thousand beauties,
+to fish its rivers and enter into its delightful, exciting and perilous
+sports, to plunge without hesitation into the depths of its forests, the
+traveller should also be accompanied by an experienced guide, and
+piloted by a friendly hand.
+
+Le Morvan, unknown to all to-day, would come forth quickly from the
+shell of obscurity in which it lies concealed, if some man of rank in
+England, led thither by hazard or caprice, were to spend a few weeks
+amidst its glades and vineyards, its mountains and its streams.
+
+What was Cannes twenty years since? who ever mentioned it in England,
+who knew its beauties? Nobody. Lord Brougham passes there, stops,
+selects a hill, crowns its top with a white _chateau_, scatters the gold
+from his purse, and sheds over the little town the lustre of the renown
+won by his versatile genius--Cannes immediately becomes the
+vogue--Cannes is charming, magnificent! Cannes, certainly, with her
+fields of jasmine and roses, her groves of orange-trees, her burning
+sun, blue skies and sea, and her warm pine-woods, is a delightful
+spot;--but Cannes is also a place of languor and sloth, a lavender-water
+country. If you have the gout, if you are old and rich, if you have
+delicate lungs, go to Cannes, your life will be agreeable but
+enervating.
+
+But Le Morvan is certainly not a country for a _petit-maitre_ or a
+delicate lady to live in; to enjoy yourself there you must have the fire
+and energy of youth in your veins, a stout heart, the lungs of a
+mountaineer, and a sinewy frame. You must love a forester's life, the
+hound and the rifle; you must be a Gordon Cumming in a small way. To the
+English invalid, I would recommend the ex-Chancellor's retreat; but to
+him who in the full sense of the term is a sporting man, or a lover of
+nature, I would say: Go--explore Le Morvan!
+
+
+
+
+  LIFE OF BEAU BRUMMELL.
+
+  A FEW COPIES OF THIS WORK ARE STILL ON HAND.
+
+  Price 10s.; Published at L1 8s.
+
+  SAUNDERS AND OTLEY; or CAWTHORNE'S LIBRARY,
+  Cockspur-street.
+
+
+  SHORTLY WILL BE PUBLISHED,
+
+  A NEW AND VERY EASY METHOD
+
+  OF ASCERTAINING
+
+  THE GENDER OF FRENCH NOUNS,
+
+  Translated from the Manuscript in French
+
+  OF THE
+
+  LATE MONS. FOUCAULT,
+  MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE,
+
+  BY
+
+  CAPTAIN JESSE,
+  AUTHOR OF "NOTES OF A HALFPAY;" "LIFE OF BRUMMELL;"
+  "MURRAY'S HAND-BOOK FOR RUSSIA," ETC., ETC.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Le Morvan, [A District of France,] Its
+Wild Sports, Vineyards and Forests; with Legends, Antiquities, Rural and Local Sketches, by Henri de Crignelle
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LE MORVAN [A DISTRICT OF FRANCE] ***
+
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