12 A Day at Fontainbleau. [Jan. 
into evening. -The air became keener, and I felt a disposition to leave 
the forest and return to -Fontainbleau. But, though I had heard the 
king, I had not yet seen him, and my party being anxious to come in 
contact with royalty, I consented to remain. Presently the crowd began 
to rush towards the inclosed space, but the gendarmes, ever active, kept 
them at bay. The multitude, however, despite opposition, ranged 
themselves into two lines ; and, in a few minutes, the signal ran that the 
king was coming. var 
His Majesty was on foot—he was surrounded by the officers of his 
household, dressed in a plain dark-green frock, with a star on his breast. 
On his head was a small round grey hat, full of days, or mayhap years, 
and of services. His breeches were of the homeliest thickset ; and he 
also wore a pair of large leather gaiters—such as are very common 
among farmers and peasants in Kent and Sussex. Though the conforma- 
tion of his figure was not powerful, yet it was muscular and wiry, and 
he appeared in perfect health. 
It was now past five o'clock, and the umbrage of the forest added a 
deeper tint to the shadows of evening. The air was piercingly cold, and 
his Majesty had been engaged in the sport from six in the morning, 
without intermission. Untired, however, in the work, the king deter- 
mined to continue the sport, and accordingly, with his suite, he returned 
to the inclosed space. In the inclosure his Majesty did not long remain. 
Three separate bevies of deer were let loose—again I heard the fearful 
shots, and the number was soon filled up. The king again came among 
the crowd; and, after having given directions about the game, entered 
bie carriage with a hasty step, and at a rapid pace drove off for Fontain- 
bleau. ; 
This was the signal for a general movement, and, in a short time, the 
forest was completely cleared of its late inhabitants. 
FAGGING, AND THE GREAT SCHOOLS. 
WE wish that some public man of character and diligence would take 
up the subject of our public schools, sift the business thoroughly, lay 
open the gross and scandalous absurdities and crimes of the system, in all 
its points of education, morals and discipline, and, by calling the national 
attention to one of the most formidable and pressing grievances and cor- 
ruptions of the national character, work a real reform. Such a man may 
be assured that he would not be without thousands and tens of thousands 
of well wishers ; that the mere evidence of the subject’s being likely to 
be pursued seriously, would raise up a host of auxiliaries, that he must 
succeed, and that, at the close of his labours, he would have the satisfac- 
tion of having done more good to his country, than all the orators and 
oppositionists who ever roared themselves hoarse and_ their hearers deaf, 
upon East Retfords, Birminghams, and the other stock stuff of ribald 
patriotism. ‘ 
Yet we should most strenuously deprecate the adoption of this important 
subject by any actual party man. In the hands of a minister it must _ 
have only its share of the time necessarily divided by the innumerable — 
calls of office. In the hands of a regular Whig it must fail, for all things 
fail ; it must be frittered down into little mean details, degraded by 
paltry personal objects, and, after being grasped at as an occasion of 
general abuse against the. laws and Constitution of the country, be, as 
usual, hooted out of the House, on the conviction of the fraudulent and 
swindling pretences of its supporter. 
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